Springboard: Marginal Rise In Footfall Last Week

Springboard has published footfall data for week 2 (08/01 - 14/01) noting that workers returned to the office post-rail strikes, and the Central London 'Back to the Office' benchmark rises.

Springboard Retail Park Index - Week 2 2023

2022 vs 2021 = +3.0%

2022 vs 2019 = -0.2%

Week-on-week = +0.8%

Springboard's Marketing and Insights Director, Diane Wehrle, said:

The second week of 2023, and the first complete working week, delivered a marginal rise in footfall from the week before.  Footfall rose across all three key destination types, however, the uplift in high streets was nearly double that in retail parks and shopping centres, suggesting a rebound in activity and employees returning to their offices following the end of the rail strikes in the week before.

This was demonstrated by a rise from the previous week of Springboard's Central London "Back to the Office Benchmark" that around four times the average for all UK high streets. However, across Central London as a whole footfall was lower last week than in the week before, reflecting the end of the Christmas trading period.

At the same time, footfall in both Market Towns and Outer London (both of which are synonymous with home working) was also higher than in the previous week, an indicator that many employees - possibly for whom last week was their first week back from their Christmas leave – opted to work from home.

Footfall rose in all but two areas of the UK over the week, with the Midlands recording the greatest uplifts from the week that were five times as large as the national average.

Source : Springboard

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