According to retail experts Springboard, the second anniversary of the start of the first lockdown in 2020 delivered positive results, with a rise in footfall of +7.8% last week from the week before across all UK retail destinations.
There were increases in all three destination types; +9.8% in high streets, +5.8% in retail parks and +5.5% in shopping centres.
Good weather saw strong rises in footfall across all types of town, with the largest uplifts seen in coastal towns (+16.6%) whilst Greater London and market towns also performed strongly (+12% and +11.5%).
Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, comments: “Last Wednesday marked two years since the beginning of the first lockdown and delivered positive news for UK retail destinations last week, which was helped by warm and sunny weather across the UK which lasted the entire week.
“Not only did footfall rise significantly from the week before across UK retail destinations as a whole, but there were strong rises in each of the three destination types. As is typically the case when we benefit from good weather, high streets benefited most with a week on week increase that was nearly double that in shopping centres and retail parks.”
She added, however, that the gap from the 2019 – pre-pandemic – footfall level widened slightly in shopping centres and retail parks, only narrowing marginally in high streets.
