Hot weather provides “marginal boost” to UK footfall

The hot and sunny weather last week, from 3-9 September, saw UK footfall across all retail destinations fall by -4.1% compared to the week before, as more workers returned to their offices and schools began their autumn term.

However, that was a better result than the same week last year when footfall dropped by -6.5%, according to the latest data from retail experts MRI Springboard.

High streets fared the best out of the three retail destinations last week, with a drop in footfall of just -1.9% from the week before last, while in 2022 there was a much more dramatic week-on-week drop in footfall in high streets of -7.3%.

Diane Wehrle, Insights Director at MRI Springboard, said: “The amazing weather last week provided a marginal boost to footfall across UK retail destinations in comparison with the same week last year, but it failed to move the dial in terms of an uplift from the week before (which saw an uplift of 1.1%).

“As in the same week in 2022, with the start of the school summer term, footfall dropped noticeably last week from the week before across all three key destination types, although the warmer temperatures meant that there was a more modest week-on-week drop in high streets than in either retail parks or shopping centres.”

Footfall in retail parks and shopping centres last week saw drops of -4.3% and -8.6% respectively, which was similar to the week-on-week declines in the same week in 2022 of -4% and -7.3%.

It was clear that more employees returned to their offices last week, with an increase in the Central London ‘Back to the Office’ benchmark of +3.5%.

The gap from pre-pandemic 2019 footfall widened once again last week to -10.6% from -8.7% in the week before last.

The start of the school term meant that footfall in smaller high streets was more resilient than in city centres or in towns that are attractive to tourists. In outer London, footfall rose by 2.1% from the week before and it dropped by just -1% in market towns, versus drops of -7.8% and -6.9% in coastal and historic towns, -3% in Central London and -5.5% in cities elsewhere across the UK.

Wehrle added: “Despite the hot weather, the start of the school term meant that consumers stayed local, with employees clearly returning to offices last week. There was a better footfall performance in market towns and outer London than in city centres and in coastal and historic towns that attract leisure visits, and this occurred alongside a rise in the Central London ‘Back to the Office’ benchmark.