Footfall drops as heatwave hits UK

Footfall across UK high streets are down -7.3% on last week as the country experiences a heatwave, according to Springboard.

However, high streets in coastal towns have seen a surge of footfall, rising by 9.0%.

The largest drop was seen in greater London, which was down -13% across high streets and -10.2% across all destinations. In central London, footfall was down -16%.

The only parts of the UK where high street footfall rose from last Monday were Scotland (+0.6%), Northern Ireland (+0.6%) and Wales (+3.2%) where temperatures whilst still hot are lower than in England.

Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, said: “The extreme heat occurring today and tomorrow was already impacting footfall in UK retail destinations over the period up to 11am on Monday morning. Typically when the weather is hot and sunny, shoppers gravitate to outdoor locations, and so footfall in high streets tends to increase while decreasing in shopping centres.

“However, with the extreme heat today the reverse has occurred, with a drop in footfall in high streets of -7.3% over the period up to 11am on Monday, while in both shopping centres and retail parks – both of which offer air conditioned environments – footfall rose by +1.6% and +1.3% respectively.”

She added: “People are clearly working at home today as advised, as Springboard’s Central London “Back to the Office” benchmark which tracks footfall in areas of Central London that are in close proximity to offices was down by -18.1%. In sharp contrast, footfall in coastal towns across the UK was up by +9% from last Monday.”