Footfall decline in July demonstrates a growing north-south divide
New figures have shown that footfall weakened last month to 14.2% below the 2019 level from 12.3% down in June as a north-south divide begjns to emerge.
The figures from retail specialist Springboard reveal that footfall was 17% below in high streets and down by a respective 18.6% and 3.5% in shopping centres and retail parks.
Springboard attributed some of the decline to the extreme heatwave in the third week of the month, when footfall dipped to 16.4% below the 2019 level from 12.9% below in the week before.
The company’s figures also show that a north-south divide is emerging in terms of the recovery in footfall post-Covid. In July footfall in Greater London was 27.4% above the 2021 level versus just 8.9% up in the north and Yorkshire.
Looking forward towards the remainder of the year, Diane Wehrle, marketing and insights director at Springboard, said: “W would normally expect footfall to peak in August and then dip in September as the school summer break ends. However, in light of the increasing strain on household budgets as a consequence of inflation, this year we are anticipating that in August footfall will plateau or even drop away marginally by circa -1% from July, followed by a decline of around -3% over the month between August and September.”
