According to retail intelligence experts Springboard, footfall across UK retail destinations declined by -1.5% across UK retail destinations.
This drop was driven by a -3.6% decline in footfall in high streets, whilst footfall rose marginally in both retail parks by +0.9% and shopping centres by +0.4%.)
UK footfall is +27.9% higher than in 2020, but the dip in activity last week meant that this narrowed slightly from +28.1% from the week before, and the gap from 2019 widened slightly to -15.3% from -14%.
Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard commented: “High streets drove the drop in footfall last week, whilst it rose marginally in retail parks and shopping centres. It seems that the drift back to the office has also slowed with an even larger drop in regional cities outside of the capital, and in Springboard’s ‘Back to the Office’ benchmark (those parts of Central London dominated by offices rather than retail). On a positive note, the drop in footfall in Central London as a whole was a third of that across UK high streets, suggesting that more visits are being made into the capital for retail and leisure purposes.
“The drop in footfall in high streets was universal, spanning all UK geographies, but the most modest decline occurred in the Greater London region, which spans both Central and Outer London, whilst the poorest results were recorded in the North & Yorkshire and South West regions.”
