‘Super Saturday’ sees cautious consumer return

Despite footfall being the highest it has been since lockdown commenced over the weekend, consumers were relatively cautious in their return to hospitality venues, data from Wireless Social has found.

As many operators opened their doors on Saturday (4 July), consumer footfall across the UK was 61% below average February levels, and 64% down on Sunday.

Whilst London footfall was just 55% below average levels on Saturday, regional cities including Birmingham (-62%), Leeds (-63%) and Manchester (-64%), were quieter than anticipated.

Some cities, including Liverpool and Bristol, fared better, with footfall down 58% and 59% respectively.

In Scotland and Wales, where pubs, bars and restaurants were not given permission to reopen this weekend, consumers on the whole continued to stay at home.

In Cardiff, footfall was down 80% on Saturday, 72% on Sunday (compared to the February average), whilst Edinburgh and Glasgow were down 75%/80% and 82%/86% respectively.

Commenting on the findings, Wireless Social said: “This week we see Scottish beer gardens begin to reopen, so we would envisage that we will see the footfall start to increase within Edinburgh and Glasgow. The same follows in Wales from next Monday.”

“Now the first wave of reopening is complete, it will be interesting to track consumer confidence growing moving forward.”