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On Coronation Day, footfall across all UK retail destinations was -20.6% lower than the previous Saturday, and -24.6% lower between 10am and 3pm, as the event “somewhat inevitably” drew customers away from stores.
However, according to the latest findings from Springboard, the coronation did lead to an uplift in footfall in certain destinations across the UK.
In Central London for example, an increase in tourists meant the drop in footfall over the day was “far smaller” at -9.3%, and footfall between 10am and 3pm was in line with the week before (-0.2%). In non-retail areas of Central London, footfall was actually +8.5% higher than last week.
Meanwhile, in Knightsbridge, footfall over the day as a whole was +9.7% higher than on the previous Saturday, and +57.7% higher than the week before over the five hours from 10am to 3pm.
There were also uplifts in footfall in other towns and cities across the UK, as big screens were set up in some high streets to allow shoppers to watch the proceedings. In King Edward Street in Hull, for example, footfall was +3.9% higher than last Saturday between 10am and 3pm, and in New George Street in Plymouth, it was +7.8% higher over those five hours.
Against last year, footfall on Saturday was -13.2% lower, but in Central London it was +11.3% higher than on the same Saturday in 2022, +24.3% higher in non-retail areas of Central London and +9.2% higher in Knightsbridge.
Over the five hours between 10am and 3pm, the uplift from last year in London was even greater, up by +21.5% in Central London, +46.4% in non-retail areas of Central London and +56.2% in Knightsbridge.
In total, footfall across all UK retail destinations was -21.2% the 2019 level, but in Central London it was just -6.1% below 2019 and in non-retail areas of Central London it was +10% higher than on the same day in 2019. Over the five hours between 10am and 3pm, footfall in Central London was on par with 2019 (+0.2%) and +32.9% higher than 2019 in non-retail areas of Central London.
