Hot weather fails to tempt shoppers as footfall drops by 2.3%

The recent hot and sunny weather failed to tempt shoppers last week, as footfall across all UK retail destinations fell by -2.3% against the week before, according to new data from MRI Springboard. 

This was a “sharp” contrast with the week before last, when footfall rose by an average of +2.9%.

The most resilient of all three retail destinations was shopping centres, where footfall dropped by only -1.7%, while high streets saw a -1.9% decrease. The highest drop came from retail parks, where the week-on-week drop in footfall of -3.7% exceeded a rise of +3.1% recorded in the week before last.

The declines recorded on six of the seven days ranged from -1.3% on Wednesday to -6.7% on Tuesday, with just Monday recording a rise of +2.8% following a -2.1% fall in the week before last.

Only Central London welcomed a rise in footfall from the week before, with an increase of +1.1%. The hot weather failed to boost footfall in coastal and historic towns however, where there were declines of -4.8% and -1.3% respectively. Meanwhile, market towns reported a -4% decline while outer London reported a -3% decline.

Despite the drop in footfall over the week, the annual uplift from 2022 remained at +4.9%, according to MRI Springboard. However, the gap from the 2019 footfall level nearly doubled to -11.3% from -6.8% in the week before last.

Diane Wehrle, insights director at MRI Springboard, said: “Despite the hot and sunny weather, it seems that the bounce back in footfall across UK retail destinations recorded in the week before last was short-lived, with a dip in footfall last week of nearly the same magnitude. 

“There were variations in performance across the three key destination types, with the most resilient being shopping centres. Out of the three, it was only in retail parks where the drop in footfall last week exceeded the gain made in the week before last, whilst in high streets and shopping centres the week on week declines last week were no more than two thirds of the uplift in the previous week.”

She added: “Footfall across UK retail destinations declined from the week before on six of the seven days last week, although in shopping centres there were week on week increases on three of the seven days. 

“With another month before most of the schools break up for the summer break, not even the hot weather helped coastal and historic towns where footfall declined from the week before, as it did in both market towns and Outer London. Central London was the only town type where footfall rose, albeit marginally.”