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Return of indoor hospitality boosts UK footfall

Tom Bottomley
24 May 2021

The return of indoor hospitality saw footfall rise +1.1% last week, 16-22 May, compared to the week before, with higher evening traffic seeing the most significant rise of +4% post 5pm across all UK high streets, compared to +0.8% up to 5pm.

Both high streets at +2.4% and shopping centres at +1% saw a rise in footfall for the week, while in retail parks footfall dipped by -1.7%, according to the latest data from retail experts Springboard.

Despite the overall rise, footfall remains -28.7% lower than the pre-pandemic 2019 level across all UK retail destinations, though in retail parks the gap is much smaller at -6.8%.

Footfall increased across the majority of the different town types, ranging from +2.3% in coastal towns to +11.8% in central London. However, in more local high streets footfall declined as consumers gravitated towards larger destinations which have a more substantial dining offer, resulting in a drop of -4.1% in outer London and -2% in market towns.

Highlighting the attractiveness of larger destinations, the rise in footfall post 5pm was greatest in central London at +16.3% and +8.5% in regional cities outside of London.

Diane Wehrle, Insights Director at Springboard, said: “The reopening of indoor dining on Monday of last week certainly supported footfall in UK retail destinations in the face of prolonged, and often severe, rain across virtually all of the UK for much of the week.

“However, it was largely high streets that benefitted, where footfall rose by more than twice as much as in shopping centres and where the rise contrasted with a drop in activity in retail parks. Footfall rose across all types of town centre, however, there was also a clear gravitation towards larger cities away from local high streets.

“The greatest benefit for both high streets and shopping centres was most definitely during the evening, when the rise in footfall in each was more than four times as great as during retail trading hours. Despite the uplift in footfall last week from the week before, there is still significant ground to be made up as footfall across all UK retail destinations remains more than a quarter below the 2019 level. Retail parks, which didn't see any uplift in footfall last week, remains the most resilient of the three destination types.”

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