// UK retail footfall rises 6.8% last week
// Across high streets, footfall rose by 10.5%
// Shopping centre footfall rose 4.5% while retail park footfall rose 1.2%
New research has found that footfall in UK retail destinations rose by 6.8 per cent last week from the week before, only a fifth less than the rise of 8.5 per cent in the same week last year.
Across high streets, footfall rose by 10.5 per cent, 4.5 per cent in shopping centres and 1.2 per cent in retail parks.
Footfall rose on all but one day last week across all UK retail destinations, and on
every day in high streets.
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Meanwhile, footfall across all UK retail destinations remains 62.1 per cent lower than last year.
In 2020, high street footfall increased by 10.5 per cent, which was marginally below the increase of 11.1 per cent in the same week last year.
Shopping centre footfall rose by 4.5 per cent versus 9.8 per cent last year, whilst in retail parks activity only rose marginally by 1.2 per cent which was largely in line with the increase of 1.4 per cent in the same week last year.
Amongst the range of town centres, central London footfall rose by a staggering 23.6 per cent, which in combination with a 12.5 per cent rise in outer London meant that the average for high streets in the greater London region was the second highest of any part of the UK.
Despite the increase from last week, footfall across all retail destinations remains 62.1 per cent lower than in the same week last year, although in retail parks it is 35.3 per cent lower due to the frequency of trips to large supermarkets for food shopping.
“You could be fooled into thinking that last week was a normal half term week rather than in the eighth week of a national lockdown, as footfall continued to rise for the fifth consecutive week,” Springboard insights director Diane Wehrle said.
“With the magnitude of increase continuing, this provides further evidence of significant pent up demand amongst shoppers to visit retail destinations and indication of the significant surge back to stores when non-essential retail reopens in the coming weeks/months.”
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