Taylor Swift bumps up week-on-week London footfall

US pop giant Taylor Swift returned to London for the city’s second leg of her record-breaking Eras Tour last week. And with it came a much needed footfall boost to offset the anticipated disorder that had seized the UK earlier this month.

From Sunday to Saturday (August 11 to 17), MRI Software recorded a 1 percent increase in footfall in all UK retail destinations compared to the week prior, an uptick that was largely driven by high streets, where footfall rose 2 percent.

For overarching footfall, meanwhile, this reflected a week-on-week increase for five out of the seven days, bouncing back from the week before when riots had been scheduled, suggesting an end to the disorder.

Regional cities outside of London saw the greatest week-on-week uplift followed by Greater London, which the data platform said was likely to be influenced by the final leg of Swift’s tour.

Upon its kick off, the area recorded a 4.1 percent rise in footfall, with the greatest increase of 10.5 percent seen on Thursday, the first day of Swift’s final five days in Europe.

By Friday, however, footfall levels were up by double digits year-on-year in Central London, at a 10.5 percent increase, further suggesting an influx of tourism and visitors to the capital in light of Swift’s appearance.

Elsewhere, in the South East, South West and Wales, retail destinations witnessed “modest” declines in footfall of around 1 percent, compared to rises in all other regions.