Green shoots of recovery for UK high streets after Omicron measures ease
The lifting of plan B restrictions spurred the UK back to shopping destinations but January footfall dropped on December levels.
According to the latest footfall insight data from Springboard, footfall worsened slightly in January over the month as a whole, to 20.8 per cent below pre-pandemic levels. This was compared to footfall that was down 18.6 per cent on 2019 levels in December 2021.
However, the easing of plan B Covid measures did inject some life into UK retail destinations in the latter half of January.
The second half saw footfall increase to 19.2 per cent below 2019 levels, from -21.5 per cent below 2019 in the first two weeks.
Footfall in central London was strengthened by around a quarter between the second and the fourth week of the month.
“While shopping centres and retail parks did not see a noticeable uplift in footfall in January, the impetus created by the start of the great return to the high street will inevitably generate a ripple effect across all physical destinations in the forthcoming weeks, which even at this early stage offers a reason for optimism amongst retailers and retail destinations,” Springboard’s Diane Wehrle said.