Coronavirus: Central London footfall picks up despite threat of tighter restrictions
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Footfall in Central London picked up last week as punters adapted to the 10pm hospitality curfew, but experts warned that tighter restrictions to be announced today could result shoppers staying home across the UK.
Retail footfall in London increased 3.2 per cent on a weekly basis, the biggest increase of any region.
However the number of people visiting central London is down 59.3 per cent year-on-year, making it the worst impacted area, according to the latest data from Springboard.
Meanwhile, retail destinations, including high streets, retail parks and shopping centres, in northern England suffered a drop in visitors due to the impact of local lockdown restrictions.
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The impact of the 10pm curfew has been “relatively short lived”, with evening high street footfall partially bouncing back after it suffered a double-digit decline the previous week.
UK retail footfall between 7pm and 11pm rose 5.8 per cent, from a 12.7 per cent fall, with greater London recording a 1.9 per cent increase.
Springboard said the Prime Minister’s announcement of tiered lockdown restrictions across the UK is likely to drive down footfall further in the worst-affected areas.
Springboard insights director Diane Wehrle said: “Consumers appear to have adapted their behaviour to accommodate the 10pm closure of hospitality. Last week – the second full week since the introduction of the curfew – the overall UK was marginal.
“However, our data indicates that there appears to be a north-south divide in terms of night-time footfall bounce back, with southern areas of the UK recording rises in footfall post 11pm whilst there are noticeable declines in the Midlands and North where a number of towns have more severe restrictions in place.”