// Boxing Day footfall was up over than a third on the UK’s high streets despite train strikes and the cost-of-living crisis
// Footfall is down almost 20% compared with Boxing Day three years ago before Covid struck
Boxing Day footfall rose 40% year on year as customers hunted for bargains amid the cost-of-living crisis, despite ongoing train strikes disrupting travel.
Although, footfall was still significantly down from pre-pandemic levels, with business leaders calling on the government to help accelerate retail’s recovery from the pandemic as it grapples with an economic downturn amid soaring inflation.
But industry analyst Springboard said data from Monday showed footfall was 38.8% higher than last year across high streets, retail parks and shopping centres.
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On high streets, it was up by 44.1%, in shopping centres by 40.4%, and in retail parks by 25.9%.
Despite a slew of national rail strikes across the Christmas period, footfall in central London was up by 139.2% up to midday.
The figure for London was just 7.8% lower than the same day in 2019.
Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, said a likely factor in the increase was that Boxing Day 2021 fell on a Sunday rather than a weekday, but added that the latest figures showed that the morning was particularly busy this year.
She said the statistics were “far from doom and gloom” for the high street, as retailers brace for a tumultuous year against the backdrop of a cost of living crisis.
“These positive results come in line with the first Christmas post-pandemic without any formal social restrictions and in spite of the cost of living crisis and the rail strikes, which inevitably affect retailers negatively,” Wehrle said.
She added that train strikes had had an effect on footfall this year, adding: “Inevitably there will have been an effect. I think we can see that quite clearly in the gap in footfall between 2022 and 2019.
“Prior to the train strikes there was an ongoing gap of around 12% in footfall between 2019 and 2022.
London’s West End performed particularly strongly this year, with footfall up 65% compared with last Boxing Day.
The New West End Company, which represents 600 retailers across the central London shopping area, said the figures were “positive news” for the high street.
Chief executive Dee Corsi said: “Across the West End, we have seen a welcomed increase in Boxing Day footfall, with figures up by 65% on last year.
“This is positive news for the high street, however visitor numbers remain 16% lower than pre-pandemic levels – we must give retailers and leisure occupiers the best possible chance to seize upon improved conditions and grow in 2023.”
However, she added that an end to the train strikes, and lifting Sunday trading restrictions, would be necessary for the capital’s businesses to “truly prosper”.
“Only by all parties coming to an agreement to end the rail strikes, and the Government looking at new growth measures such as the lifting of Sunday trading restrictions in London’s international centres, can our high street businesses truly prosper as we head into the new year,” she said.
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