UK footfall continues to rise as return to the office gathers pace

Footfall across all UK retail destinations rose 2.2% last week, 6-12 February, compared to the week before, with increases in each of the three destination types evident, at +2.6% in high streets, +2.4% in shopping centres and +1.1% in retail parks.

It was the fifth consecutive week of footfall growth as workers returning to offices gathers momentum, according to the latest data from retail experts Springboard.

The rise in footfall was seen in all types of town centre, with the largest rise of 7.1% in regional cities outside of London, versus +3.3% in Central London.

Springboard's Central London ‘Back to the Office benchmark’ was in line with that of Central London footfall as a whole, rising by 3% from the week before.

The greatest uplift was on Friday 11 February when footfall rose by 8.7% overall, and by +11.5% in high streets.

However, the gap from the 2019 footfall level widened to -21.2% last week from a decline of -17.1% in the week before, but footfall was +149% higher than in the same week in 2021, when Lockdown 3 was still in place.

Diane Wehrle, Insights Director at Springboard, said: “For the fifth consecutive week footfall in UK retail destinations rose last week from the week before, albeit that the degree of uplift appears to be tapering off. Footfall rose across all three destination types, however, the increases in all three were lower than the week before which followed payday, and which is often a driver of retail spending.

“Footfall rose across all types of town centre last week, with an acceleration in the increase in footfall in city centres outside of London accompanied by a lesser uplift in footfall in Central London. In part this is likely to be driven by employees outside of the capital heading back into their offices to a greater degree than in previous weeks. With footfall volumes being much greater in Central London than in cities elsewhere, a smaller increase in activity in the capital versus cities across the UK dampens growth in high street footfall in overall terms.

“While there was once again a rise in footfall last week, the modest scale of the uplift from the week before was not enough to narrow the gap from the 2019 footfall level, which widened from the week before.”