Mid-week hangovers are on the rise in the UK, as a new social trend of heading to the pub on a Wednesday or Thursday instead of a Friday grows in popularity.
Working from home means city workers are less likely to head into their office on a Friday, with most preferring to commute during the middle of the week.
A consequence of this means that Wednesday evenings are becoming the new party night.
Bar and restaurant owners say, because the overwhelming majority of office staff stay at home on Friday, that Wednesday is the new Thursday, and Thursday is the new Friday.
Wednesday and Thursdays nights are becoming the most popular week day to party in cities according to some hospitality bosses, as more workers commute into the office mid-week than on Fridays and head to the pub after
Freespace, a technology company that has 120,000 workplace sensors in offices across the country, has released new data that shows that under 15 per cent of desks were occupied last Friday.
But on Wednesday and Thursday that figure rises to 40 per cent, the highest level since the pandemic began.
However this level is still far below the average occupancy before Covid, which was 60 per cent.
Which suggests that around two thirds of workers are back at their desks midweek but only a quarter on Fridays.
Hospitality bosses say the midweek return to the office is resulting in bustling pubs and restaurants on Wednesday and Thursday nights.
Phil Inzani, owner of the Polo Bar in the City of London, said that this is the ‘new normal’ now and that you can see empty streets in London on a Friday.
He told The Times: ‘Our busiest night used to be Friday but post lockdown everything has changed.
‘Fridays are now quieter but Wednesday and Thursday are much busier. A lot of the Friday night trade has moved to Thursday and the Thursday night trade to Wednesday.’
The number of workers back in the office is still far off the pre-pandemic levels, but on Wednesday and Thursdays data suggests that two thirds of workers return to their desks
Britain’s WFH hotspots: The areas where companies are letting staff work from home most
Britons who want to work from home should get jobs in seaside towns such as Worthing, Southend and Bournemouth, according to newly analysed figures
The areas where companies are letting staff work from home most, with Worthing, Stoke and Burnley among the towns topping the list of so-called ‘Zoom hotspots’.
New figures show how the West Sussex seaside town of Worthing has seen a 650 per cent rise in jobs postings with remote working on offer since the first Covid lockdown.
Figures also show a huge increase in the number of ‘flexible working’ positions in the city of Dundee, east Scotland, where job postings have increased by 319 per cent.
The former booming industrial town of Burnley has also seen a 391 per cent rise increase in work from home job posts between March 2020 and March this year.
The analysis, carried out by online meeting place Zoom and jobs site Indeed, comes amid a growing row over the future of work from home – which became the default position during the first Covid lockdown in March 2020.
Gearoid Devaney, the owner of a number of venues in London, including Cabotte in The City and The Black Book in Soho, said that Thursdays had always been good in London, the mid-week business has been ‘performing really well’.
He added that customers average spends have been higher as they are excited to be back.
The trend is not exclusive to London.
Graham Hollinshead, the managing director of Rockwater, a bar and restaurant, in Hove, East Sussex, told The Times: ‘Thursday is now a significant night for us. Wednesday is busier as well. And the trend seems to have become entrenched. Last Thursday was actually stronger than last Friday.
‘The shifting patterns of working from home are definitely affecting the structure of the week for hospitality businesses.’
The Freespace figures show that the number of people returning to their desks accelerated in May.
Office occupancy averaged 32 per cent last week, compared with 26 per cent in April.
In January occupancy averaged under 15 per cent.
However, Raj Krishnamurthy, chief executive of Freespace, thinks it will be a while before the occupancy rates return to how they were before the pandemic.
He said: ‘Our data has shown a huge discrepancy in the growing number of people in offices between Tuesday and Thursday compared to the eerily quiet Fridays.’
He added: ‘The use of meeting rooms has also gone up. This reaffirms the belief that people are using the office to meet and collaborate and focusing on the more concentrated tasks at home.’
New data has shown that congestion levels are now either catching up or exceeding pre-pandemic levels, but the number of people using public transport in London remains significantly lower than pre-Covid.
Figures for last month showed more than 70 million tube journeys were made in March this year, the highest level since February 2020 – prior to the first Covid lockdown.
However that month saw 106 million journeys made – meaning 30 million less journeys were made in March than before the pandemic – despite England not having any Covid restrictions for three months.
Globally British workers are leading the world in refusing to return to the office, despite a push by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and ministers in an attempt to kickstart the commuter economy.
Mr Johnson last week said cutting down on remote working would boost productivity and revive the UK’s town and city centres.
Jacob Rees-Mogg has voiced ‘suspicions’ that many are choosing to work from home on Mondays and Fridays as they think ‘the working week is shorter than the reality is’.
He has also threatened to check attendance rates against Met Office weather reports, hinting some officials were choosing not to come into the office on sunny days.
He has drawn media attention in his push to get civil servants back in the office, including making surprise visits and leaving passive-aggressive notes.
New figures published by Work From Home Research (WFH Research) have revealed how Britons are most likely to leave their jobs if told to return to the office five days a week.
The survey, involving 33,000 people from across the world, shows how 23 per cent of British workers say they would rather quit or start looking for new job rather than go back to the office.
New figures show the UK now tops the table of nations where workers would rather quit or find a new job than return to the office five days a week. Pictured: This graphic shows the percent of people from each country responding to WFH Research’s global survey of 33,000 people who said they would rather quit or search for a new job than go back to the office five days a week
The continued work from home culture is also clear from Google Mobility data. Figures from February 2020 to May this year shows how journeys to the workplace are down more than 20 per cent still when compared to pre-pandemic levels. This is more than any other country, including the US, Canada, France, Spain and Germany
Research from Linkedin shows 52 per cent of women surveyed said that they’ve considered leaving, or have left, a role because of lack of flexibility.
Almost a quarter (23 per cent) of women said they are more likely to leave their role since their employers started enforcing back to office policies and nearly two in five (37 per cent) said they felt like progress made on flexible working during the pandemic is being lost.
Of those whose workplaces have not gone fully remote, two in five (39 per cent) of UK professionals surveyed say that they are now expected in the office four or five days per week.
Meanwhile a quarter (25 per cent) say that their employer has put set office days in place, which makes juggling home life more difficult.
Charlotte Davies, Career Expert at LinkedIn, said their research showed how women wanted to work flexibly, while Molly Johnson-Jones, Founder of Flexa Careers, said working from home was a huge step towards ‘gender equality at work’.
While workers returning to their offices are heading to the pub mid-week, according to Bupa working from home can have negative impacts on your health and it could take years for the nation to recover from them.
A fifth of those working from home exercise less while a third are eating more, half of people have not visited their GP in the past year and 60 per cent have not had a dental check-up, the findings reveal.
About 15 per cent said they are still drinking more alcohol compared to the start of the pandemic.
Dr Robin Clark, medical director for Bupa Global & UK said: ‘Lockdowns, gym closures and general uncertainty made it difficult for many to prioritise their health during the pandemic.
‘Despite restrictions ending, it looks like, as a nation, we’re still struggling to stay active and eat well with the unfortunate consequence that it may take years for our health to return to pre-pandemic levels.
‘This is worrying because the World Health Organisation has identified exercise and physical activity as one of four habits – alongside a healthy diet, avoiding harmful use of alcohol and not smoking –which will dramatically reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.’
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