Bank holiday weather boosts UK footfall

Footfall across UK retail destinations rose by +6.7% last week against the week before, with the average uplift in activity from Thursday to Saturday of +15.2% driving the increase for the week. According to the latest data from retail experts Springboard, the weekend’s uplift marked a notable increase compared with an average rise in footfall of just +0.8% between Sunday and Wednesday. It comes as shoppers made the most of the bank holiday weekend and good weather, with an average increase over Thursday and Friday of +20.6%. The hot and sunny weather over the weekend “clearly helped” retail destinations, and whilst footfall rose by +4.4% on Saturday, bank holiday Sunday footfall rose by +25% from the week before and by +47.4% in UK high streets alone. According to Springboard, the heightened activity continued into Monday, with a rise in footfall of +16% across all UK destinations, and by +29.3% in UK high streets. In Central London footfall rose by +17% from the week before, a larger rise than in any other high street type other than coastal towns where it rose by +18.2%, again driven by the weather over the weekend. In larger cities outside London footfall rose by +9.2%, by +9.8% in market towns and by +8.1% in Outer London. Nonetheless, footfall remains -26.8% lower than in 2019, although this is a marginal improvement on the position last week when it was -28.7% lower than in 2019. Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, said: “Despite rain continuing to persist at the beginning of last week, footfall in UK retail destinations rose from the week before, with the increase also being far greater than in the past five weeks. “It was apparent that shoppers intended to make the most of the bank holiday weekend – and the good weather that was forecast - as footfall rose by substantially more on Thursday and Friday than earlier in the week.” She added: “Footfall rose in all three destination types last week from the previous week, but it was high streets that dominated in terms of uplift. All types of high street benefited, with Central London and coastal towns leading the way. “The increase in activity in Central London was nearly double that in large city centres elsewhere in the UK, whilst the increases in market towns and outer London high streets were slightly lower, suggesting that shoppers are starting to gravitate towards larger locations.”

Bank holiday weather boosts UK footfall

According to Springboard, the heightened activity continued into Monday, with a rise in footfall of +16% across all UK destinations, and by +29.3% in UK high streets

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