The Fifth Floor restaurant at Harvey Nichols department store in London is to get a £1m refurbishment next month in a bid to stave off a drop in sales.

 

In the 12 months to 30 March, turnover at the Fifth Floor fell by 5.6%. Harvey Nichols said this was because of a decline in trade following the 11 September attacks.

 

Turnover at the group’s in-store restaurant in Leeds increased by 13.7% on the previous year. The increase in trading was put down to a greater awareness of the store in general and the opening of the restaurant, outside of store times, three nights a week.

 

Oxo Tower: sales dip

Harvey Nichols’s stand-alone restaurants, the 135-seat Oxo Tower and the 120-seat Prism, both in London, recorded a 3% fall in turnover to £12.3m, compared with £12.6m a year earlier. Operating profit fell by 12.7% to £1.06m, compared with £1.2m in 2001.

 

At Oxo Tower sales fell by 1%, while sales at Prism dipped by almost 12%.

 

The group said trading at Prism had been “particularly affected” by the events of 11 September, although finance director Clive Morton added that business at the restaurant had been down before that date and had not yet recovered.

 

Two new Harvey Nichols department stores opening in Edinburgh in September and Manchester in autumn 2003 will both feature Fifth Floor-style restaurants.