Bank holiday weekend footfall down 4 percent

The August bank holiday saw shoppers shun the high street, as footfall numbers fell by 4.1 percent. This comes despite a prediction of a 6.5 percent increase in shoppers by footfall monitor Springboard.

Perhaps it was the wet weather, or London's Notting Hill Carnival that drew a million-strong crowd, but as the last bank holiday of the year, marking the end of the summer season, shoppers turned to other activities outside of retail.

Springboard's Diane Wehrle told the BBC it was "quite a surprise to see the magnitude of drop", and said it could not be explained solely by bad weather.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) earlier this month stated July's retail sales were resilient due to the weaker value of sterling and the warmer weather.

Retail sales grew by 5.9 percent compared with July 2015, the ONS said.

Photo credit: Orpington High Street.jpg, Source: Wikimedia Commons