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Footfall weakened in July to -14.2% below 2019 from -12.3% in June 2022 with the month’s performance also highlighting the growing divide between the north and south of the country, according to the latest data from Springboard.
July saw a -17% decline compared with 2019 in high streets, a -18.6% decline in shopping centres and a -3.5% decline in retail parks.
Springboard revealed that in the third week of the month footfall dipped to -16.4% below the 2019 level, from -12.9% in the week before due to the extreme heatwave. In that week the uplift from 2021 also narrowed in the third week; to +11.3% from +18.2% in the previous week.
Meanwhile, it said a north-south divide is emerging in terms of the recovery in footfall; in July footfall in Greater London was +27.4% above the 2021 level versus just +8.9% in North and Yorkshire, +7.2% in Northern Ireland and +9.2% in Scotland.
It added the north-south divide in footfall recovery stretches back to July 2021, and has “increased significantly” over recent months; by July the gain in footfall from 2021 of +8.9% in the North and Yorkshire was only around a third of the +27.4% gain in Greater London.
Springboard added it anticipates that in August footfall will plateau or even drop away marginally by circa -1% from July, followed by a decline of around -3% over the months between August and September.
