// Footfall rose last week thanks to warm weather
// UK retail footfall has risen by 6.7% in the last week to Saturday
// Warm weather on Sunday and Monday encouraged consumers to visit shops
UK footfall across retail destinations rose by 6.7 per cent in the last week to Saturday, compared with the week before.
However, the figures remained 26.8 per cent lower than normal circumstances in 2019, according to Springboard.
Meanwhile, warm weather on Sunday and Monday – a public holiday – also encouraged consumers to visit shops, with Sunday numbers up by 25 per cent and Monday up 16 per cent.
READ MORE: Northern towns recovering faster than cities, research suggests
Shoppers made the most of the bank holiday weekend, with an average increase over Thursday and Friday of 20.6 per cent.
In central London, footfall rose by 17 per cent from the week before, a larger rise than in any other high street type other than coastal towns where it rose by 18.2 per cent – driven by sunny weather over the weekend.
In larger cities outside London, footfall rose by 9.2 per cent, by 9.8 per cent in market towns and by 8.1 per cent in outer London.
“Despite rain continuing to persist at the beginning of last week, footfall in UK retail destinations rose from the week before, with the increase also being far greater than in the past five weeks,” Springboard insights director, Diane Wehrle said.
“It was apparent that shoppers intended to make the most of the bank holiday weekend – and the good weather that was forecast – as footfall rose by substantially more on Thursday and Friday than earlier in the week.
“Footfall rose in all three destination types last week from the previous week, but it was high streets that dominated in terms of uplift.
“All types of high street benefited, with Central London and coastal towns leading the way.
“The increase in activity in central London was nearly double that in large city centres elsewhere in the UK, whilst the increases in market towns and outer London high streets were slightly lower, suggesting that shoppers are starting to gravitate towards larger locations.”
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