On a bright midday in the City of London, the pavements around Moorgate are conspicuously quiet. Restaurants that would ordinarily be packed with office workers grabbing a business lunch now sit half empty, their managers staring at idle tills. Just two days into a fresh wave of London Underground strikes, the financial and economic cost is already being counted in lost revenue and empty seats. “We usually have a queue, we’re non-stop working,” the manager of MuMu Street Food told a reporter. “Now I have nothing to do but sit and wait for customers.” The disruption, which hospitality businesses warn will cost them tens of thousands of pounds, stems from a bitter dispute between the Rail, Maritime and Transport union and Transport for London over changes to drivers’ working patterns.

The RMT has instructed its members to walk out for 24 hours from midday on Tuesday and again on Thursday, with further strikes scheduled for May and June. On each strike day, services wind down by mid-morning and lines finish early; commuters have been urged to complete journeys by 8pm. The knock-on effect spills into the following mornings, when trains start later and disruption persists. The union accuses TfL of attempting to impose a compulsory four-day working week, a claim the transport authority refutes, insisting that any changes are voluntary and designed to improve service reliability.

Viewed from London’s hospitality and retail districts, the strike is a direct assault on the fragile post-pandemic recovery. Footfall has plummeted as regulars work from home rather than brave the chaos. From a national perspective, the dispute threatens to undermine the capital’s reputation as a reliable global hub. Analysts in Whitehall note that repeated walkouts erode business confidence, while international observers see a transport network still struggling to reconcile union demands with the need for modernisation.

With negotiations stalled and further action already announced, the outlook is uncertain. TfL insists it remains open to dialogue, but the RMT’s general secretary has voiced deep frustration at what he calls an imposed reorganisation. For the City’s traders and restaurateurs, the immediate calculus is clear: each day of strikes deepens the financial wound, and there is no easy end in sight.