UK footfall drops as November starts

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
Nov 9, 2021

It was good while it lasted. UK footfall fell back again in the first week of November after its rousing end to October.

Without the support of school half-term, footfall across UK retail destinations declined 9.3% week-on-week in the seven days from 31 October to 6 November.

The greatest drops were in high streets, down 10.9% and shopping centres, off 11.6%, versus a more modest drop of 3.1% in retail parks. 

Following October school break, locations most attractive to tourists saw the greatest drops in footfall last week, with it declining 20.7% in coastal towns, 15.1% in historic towns and 16.6% in regional cities.

And those declines also meant the gap from the 2019 footfall level widened once again, to -13.4% versus -10.9% in the week before.

The blend of office and home working continues to be evident in UK footfall, with declines in Outer London and Market towns of 7.1% and 8.1%, versus drops of 15.7% in Central London and that 16.6% in those regional cities. 

Diane Wehrle, Insights Director at Springboard said the latest dip “was an expected result… given that footfall has dropped in the week post the October half term break in every year since Springboard starting publishing footfall benchmarks in 2009.”