UK High Street Footfall Drops As 10pm Curfew Is Introduced

Data from retail footfall specialist Springboard shows that UK high street footfall saw a decline -32.2% year-on-year on Thursday 24th September, and -8.2% week on week.

Diane Wherle, Marketing and Insights Director at Springboard, said: "There was an immediate and downward shift in footfall in high streets from Wednesday onwards, which was inevitable given the prevalence of hospitality and the fact that the majority of offices are based in towns and city centres. Unsurprisingly, the compulsory closure of hospitality outlets at 10pm from Thursday onward led a huge drop in footfall in high streets after 11pm. 

"In retail parks and to a lesser extent shopping centres the impact on Wednesday and Thursday was far more modest, and on both Friday and Saturday footfall actually rose from the week before. In retail parks there were very marginal declines in activity on Wednesday and Thursday; with the majority of retail parks having a large food store it suggests that an element of panic buying started to occur following the announcement on Tuesday. 

"Despite the impact on footfall of the increased restrictions from Thursday there was little impact on the annual result, as footfall actually rose marginally over the three days from Sunday to Tuesday, possibly due to consumers making trips in advance of further restrictions, which helped to offset the drops later in the week."

Source : Springboard

For all the very latest news and intelligence on the UK's largest home improvement and garden retailers, sign up for the Insight DIY weekly newsletter.