With the school summer holiday in full swing, footfall across UK retail destinations rose by +1.4% last week from the week before according to Springboard’s latest data. This follows a rise of +2.4% in the week before last. In high streets, the increase in activity was nearly double the overall result at +2.6%. In shopping centres, the uplift was more modest at +1% and in retail parks, footfall dipped marginally by -0.6%.

In coastal towns, footfall rose by +2.4% and by an even greater +6.1% in Central London. This is the result of many consumers utilising the school summer holiday to make trips to retail destinations further afield.

In market towns, footfall also rose by +2.2%; reflecting the benefit of home working to local high streets.

Meanwhile, in regional cities outside of the capital, footfall rose by a more modest +0.7%. Footfall was stronger during the first half of the week when the rain wasn’t so persistent. There was an average rise from the week before between Sunday and Wednesday of +4.9% across all destinations and +8.1% in high streets.

In sharp contrast, from Thursday to Saturday, footfall declined by -2.3% across all destinations and by -3.6% in high streets. The ongoing – albeit modest – rises in footfall from week to week means the gap in footfall from 2019 continues to narrow. Last week it stood at -20.1% across all retail destinations. In retail parks – despite a slight dip from the week before – footfall last week was just -1.9% below the 2019 level. This is versus -2.7% in the previous week.

Commenting is Diane Wehrle, Insights Director at Springboard.

“With the school summer holiday period in full swing, footfall across UK retail destinations continued to improve last week. In overall terms, it was a modest uplift from the week before.

“However, footfall rose in high streets for the fifth consecutive week for the first time since June 2020. This suggests an underlying strengthening of customer activity. High streets were undoubtedly supported by staycations, as in both coastal towns and Central London – the focus for many day and holiday trips – footfall rose by more than in local high streets, despite the rain.”