Bank Holiday Trading | CWB Magazine

31/08/2023

August bank holiday trading

Bank holiday Sunday saw a +10.5% boost in UK retail footfall versus the week prior, according to retail expert MRI Springboard. The rise was across all three destination types: +9% in high streets, +9.8% in retail parks and +14.2% in shopping centres.

Whilst footfall rose on Sunday, it was lower than the same day in 2022, reflecting the volume of overseas holidays taken across the bank holiday. Conversely, Saturday and Monday footfall were lower than on the same days in the week before.

Commenting on the results is Diane Wehrle, Insights Director at MRI Springboard.

“Sunday was clearly the peak day of the bank holiday weekend for UK retail destinations in terms of the uplift in footfall; footfall on Sunday was +10.5% higher than the week before, whilst on both Saturday and Monday footfall was lower than on the same days in the week before (-0.2% lower on Saturday and -7.6% lower on Monday).

“Footfall rose in all three destination types on Sunday from the week before; by +9% in high streets, by +9.8% in retail parks and by +14.2% in shopping centres. The opportunity afforded by the bank holiday weekend to make trips out on Sunday was demonstrated in significant uplifts in footfall from the week before in both coastal and historic towns (+22.2% and +20.5%). At the same time, however, many shoppers also stayed local, with a rise in footfall from the previous Sunday of +12.9% in market towns.

“Whilst footfall rose on Sunday from the week before in coastal and historic towns, it was lower than the same day in 2022, reflecting the volume of overseas holidays taken over the bank holiday. In contrast, in Central London, footfall was higher on Bank holiday Sunday and Monday than on the same days last year (+10.4% and +9%), demonstrating the increase in overseas visitors to the capital.

“The popularity of Sunday for trips out was demonstrated by the fact that footfall in high streets was +1.3% higher than in 2019 on that day but lower than in 2019 across the other two key destination types (-10.7% in retail parks and -14.6% in shopping centres).”