UK footfall growth slows

Although UK footfall continued to rise last week, its growth rate slowed slightly, according to the latest footfall tracker from Wireless Social.

Across the UK, footfall over the weekend was at approximately half of the February average (53% down on Saturday, 51% down on Sunday), a slight improvement from -56% (Saturday) and -55% (Sunday) the previous weekend.

City centres saw growth of a couple of percent on average, with London up 2%/1% (Saturday/Sunday) from the previous weekend, and Manchester up 2%/2%.

Liverpool on Sunday was the closest to the February average, being just 41% behind pre-coronavirus norms.

And Leeds also saw a spike in footfall (going from -60% on Sunday 12 July, to -49% on Sunday 19 July), potentially due to city centre celebrations over Leeds United’s promotion to the Premier League.

With Scottish hospitality starting to reopen, Glasgow’s footfall on Saturday saw a substantial increase on the previous week of 16%, and Edinburgh increased by 9% - jumping from -80% to -64% and -68% to -59% respectively.

New analysis on suburbs revealed that footfall is growing at a rate of 5%-10% each week, reaching -50% on Saturday 18 July, and -45% on Sunday 19 July.

London shopping streets are still fluctuating up and down, with no real pattern emerging.

Footfall on Oxford Street didn’t show much change this week (-52%, -52%, -49% - Monday to Wednesday), and other areas including Kensington High Street, Bayswater and Covent Garden experienced a fluctuation of growth and decline.

The West End’s usual footfall drivers of tourism and theatres and entertainment are still waiting for a return.