UK footfall increases fourfold, helped by increase in London

Footfall across all retail destinations throughout the UK rose by 4.1 percent last week from the week before, a “significant acceleration” from the previous week of 0.8 percent and 1.8 percent increase in the same week last year.

The latest data from retail experts Springboard reveals that the overall UK result was driven by rises in footfall of 6.8 percent in Greater London and 7.1 percent in the South East, which were a reversal of the previous week when footfall declined in these two regions and a far stronger performance than the same week last year when footfall only rose by 1.6 percent in Greater London and by 2.2 percent in the South East.

The accelerated growth in these two regions generated a far greater volume of footfall than elsewhere, which meant that the week to August 22 ended with footfall 30.7 percent lower than in the same week last year, a “noticeable improvement” explained Springboard from an annual drop of 32.5 percent in the week before.

“Accelerated growth” in London and South East helps boost retail footfall

All three destination types benefited from a rise in footfall, with shopping centres seeing an increase of 7.1 percent week-on-week, while high streets increased by 3.2 percent, and retail parks up 2.7 percent.

Retail parks still lead the way in recovery, added Springboard, with the benefit of large food stores, free parking and larger stores, footfall in retail parks is now only 10.6 percent lower than 2019, compared with shopping centres where footfall is 32.4 percent lower and high streets where it is 39.1 percent lower.

High streets as a whole have been “adversely impacted” by lack of footfall returning to central London and other regional cities, as these locations generate the greatest amount of footfall of any type of high street in the UK.

Smaller, local high streets recovering quicker than regional cities

While London has shown positive signs of growth, in central London footfall remains 61.2 percent lower than last year and in regional cities, it is 49.8 percent lower.

In contrast, footfall in smaller more local high streets or those appealing to holidaymakers has recovered to a far greater extent, as outer London, the drop in footfall from last year is now just down by 29.5 percent, while in coastal towns it is down 28.7 percent, in historic towns by 34.1 percent and in market towns a decrease of 28.3 percent.

Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard said in a statement: “It seems that the increased quarantine measures imposed last week on a number of overseas destinations are having a positive impact on UK footfall.

“Footfall in UK retail destinations last week not only rose on a week-on-week basis, but the uplift was more than four times as large as the week before, and two and a half times as large as the same week last year.

"The outcome is a further incremental recovery in footfall compared with 2019, and the sixteenth consecutive week in which the annual decline has lessened which offers a glimmer of hope for retailers.”

Springboard has the most comprehensive footfall data set in the UK using the latest generation automated technology, recording over 70 million footfall counts per week at 4,500 counting points across 480 different shopping sites in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Image: FashionUnited