UK retail footfall down 55.4% as lockdown in England continues to impact

Footfall across all retail destinations throughout the UK was -55.4% last week – 15-21 November – compared to the same week in 2019, according to retail experts Springboard.

Impacting largely on the overall figures, footfall in England was -59% year-on-year as the lockdown continued to impact, with the other three nations improving to -34.3% in Scotland, -30.4% in Northern Ireland and -29.6% in Wales. With those improvements, footfall across all UK destinations was actually +5.9% compared to the previous week.

Footfall in Central London continued to be the hardest hit, at -80.4% year-on-year, and regional city centres were -64.4%.

Diane Wehrle, Insights Director at Springboard, said: “Footfall across UK retail destinations strengthened slightly in what was the second complete week of lockdown in England, with the annual decline in footfall in retail destinations in England now currently around double that in each of the devolved nations.

“It seems that despite non-essential stores being closed in England, trips to bricks and mortar stores have increased across the UK as a whole, although these were more significant in shopping centres and retail parks than in high streets.”