Rain dampens high street recovery as footfall drops 4.1 per cent
Footfall in UK retail destinations fell 4.1 per cent last week from the week before, as wind and rain persuaded shoppers to stay home for another week.
The number of high street shoppers fell 6.6 per cent last week, according to the latest data from retail insight company Springboard, while footfall in shopping centres and retail parks fell 1.5 and 1.3 per cent respectively.
The reduction in people out and about was widespread across the UK, spanning all areas but Northern Ireland, where footfall rose 21.1 per cent, reflecting the impact of the reopening of retail on Friday 30 April.
In Central London, however, which throughout the pandemic has been the most severely impacted city in the UK, footfall remained virtually level, with a dip of just 0.8 per cent for the week before, compared with a dip of 5.2 per cent in outer London.
Despite this, footfall in Central London last week was still 61.2 per cent lower than its 2019 level compared with Outer London where it was 16.6% lower than its level two years ago.
At a UK level, the decline in footfall from the same time in 2019 was -35.6 per cent in high streets and -27.2 per cent in shopping centres, whilst in retail parks it was just -1.3 per cent.
Diana Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, said: “Rain across much of the UK for most of last week meant that footfall dipped again from the week before.
“The impact of the rain was evident, with a more modest drop in activity in the enclosed environments of shopping centres and in retail parks that are easily accessible by car than in high streets.”