UK footfall dips for first time since reopening

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This week, Saturday footfall declined for the first time since the reopening of hospitality, according to the latest data from Wireless Social.

Since venues were given the green light to open their doors on 4 July, footfall had been slowly increasing across the country over the past few weeks, reaching 53% below the February footfall average on 18 July (an improvement from -70% the week before reopening).

However, this week footfall dipped across the country by one percentage point, to -54%, for the first time since the relaunch of the sector.

When broken down by major cities, the data revealed a mixed picture, with certain areas falling in footfall and others increasing significantly.

London (down 4%), Manchester (down 3%) and Bristol (down 1%) all fell in footfall this Saturday, whilst other cities including Birmingham (up 11%) and Newcastle (up 10%) saw a substantial rise.

Confidence in Scotland and Wales continued to grow this week, with Cardiff (up 4%), Edinburgh (up 6%) and Glasgow (up 6%) all seeing growth on Saturday.

In line with the national trend, footfall in the suburbs dipped this Saturday (down 4% to -54%), but returned to growth on Sunday (at -43% compared to last week’s -45%).

Though recorded before the mandatory mask rule came into effect, the shopping districts all showed a positive increase in footfall Monday through to Wednesday last week, with Bayswater seeing its closest pre-lockdown comparison on Tuesday and Wednesday at -41% of the February average.