Rain sees UK footfall dip but Northern Ireland benefits from reopening of retail

Wet weather across much of the UK last week, 2 – 8 May, 2021, saw footfall across all UK retail destinations decline by -4.1% compared to the week before, hampering the “bounce back.”

The exception was in Northern Ireland, which saw footfall rise by +21.1% due to the reopening of non-essential retail on 30 April, 2021.

Across the whole of the UK, the latest data from retail experts Springboard reveals that footfall declined last week compared to the week before by -6.6% in high streets, -1.5% in shopping centres and -1.3% in retail parks.

Compared to pre-pandemic 2019, footfall now sits at -27.2% in shopping centres, a heavier -35.6% in high streets and just -1.3% in retail parks.

All type of high streets were impacted last week, with a drop in footfall of as much as -10.1% in market towns. In Central London, however, which throughout the pandemic has been the most severely impacted city in the UK, footfall remained virtually level with a dip of just -0.8% from the week before, compared with a more substantial drop of -5.2% in outer London.

Despite this, footfall in Central London last week was still -61.2% lower than its 2019 level, compared with outer London where it was -16.6% lower than its level two years ago.

Diane Wehrle, Insights Director at Springboard, said: “Rain across much of the UK for most of last week meant that footfall dipped again from the week before. The impact of the rain was evident, with a more modest drop in activity in the enclosed environments of shopping centres and in retail parks that are easily accessible by car than in high streets.

“The ongoing resilience of retail parks throughout the pandemic in retaining shopper numbers meant that last week footfall in this destination type was only marginally below the 2019 pre-pandemic level.

“In contrast footfall in both high streets and shopping centres remained more than a quarter below than their levels in 2019, however it is likely to be these two destination types that will receive the greatest boost from the reopening of indoor hospitality next week.”