Retail footfall declined by 1.2% last week
Latest figures on retail footfall have shown that the number of visits to all UK retail destinations dropped by 1.2% last week from the previous seven days.
This compares to a decline of 3.1% in the prior week.
The data from retail specialist Springboard reveals that nearly all of last week’s fall was driven by high streets, where footfall declined by 3%. In contrast, footfall in shopping centres dropped by just 0.1% and retail parks saw an increase of 1.3%.
Looking at the individual nations, the smallest decline was seen in England where footfall fell by 0.9%. Meanwhile in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland there were respective drops of 2.7%, 3.8% and 12.2%. In Wales, almost all of the decline was seen on Saturday when its firebreaker lockdown came into effect.
Over the week as a whole, the annual decrease in footfall across the UK reached 32.9% last week, with the largest drops coming from the devolved nations where tougher Covid-19 restrictions have been put in place.
Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, said: “The range of additional restrictions that came into effect at the end of last week have not yet had a noticeable impact on footfall in retail destinations generally across the UK. However, with the exception of Wales which entered a fire break for 17 days, retail stores are continuing to trade which together with fact that the restrictions commenced on Saturday – the last day of the week period – mitigated the impact on the week as a whole.
“However, in different parts of the UK the situation was more nuanced, with far greater declines in footfall in the devolved nations than in England, and differences in performance from nation to nation reflecting the introduction of restrictions.”
