Footfall dropped by the largest amount for two years in June
The UK was hit by the largest decline in footfall for two years last month, down by 2.8 per cent compared to June last year.
The high street suffered the worst decline in footfall of all the locations monitored, with the number of shoppers falling by 3.7 per cent year-on-year, according to a report by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Springboard.
Read more: Brits to shun big ticket buys after Brexit
Footfall deflation in shopping centres was at 2.3 per cent, and footfall in retail parks was down by 2.3 per cent.
The figures represent the steepest drop in footfall since February 2014.
Springboard said footfall increased by 0.4 per cent during the first week of June, but the picture quickly changed; footfall fell by 4.6 per cent during the week of the referendum and by 3.6 per cent in the weeks after the Brexit vote.
Read more: Brexit vote pushes confidence down at fastest pace in two decades
Consumer confidence was also hit, dropping at its fastest rate in twenty years after the EU referendum.
Diane Wehrle, marketing and insights director at Springboard, said: "The results are shaped by a political and economic storm against a backdrop of rain downpours and generally inclement weather throughout the whole month."
Helen Dickinson, BRC's chief executive, said: "June has seen many distractions from Euro 2016 to Wimbledon so heading out to the shops seems to have slipped down the priority list for many.
"The EU referendum will not have changed the in-store experience for customers and, crucially, the price of goods on the shelves."