Footfall rises despite ‘rule of six’

Footfall across all retail destinations in the UK rose by 2.4% over the last week, despite the government’s new ‘rule of six’ social distancing measure, according to data from analytics company Springboard.

High street retailers saw a footfall increase of 5.2%, while shopping centres and retail parks saw a decrease of 0.8% and 0.3%, respectively.

Despite an improvement in footfall in central London last week, footfall continues to be 56.1% lower than last year, compared to 45.3% lower in regional cities and 22.6% lower in market towns.

Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard said: “After the first week of the ‘rule of six’, retail footfall bounced back after last week’s first decrease in footfall since mid-April.

“However, unlike last year when footfall also rose in this week, the increase in footfall was wholly driven by high streets whilst footfall in both retail parks and shopping centres declined from the week before.” 

She added: “The fact that central London recorded the second highest uplift of any high street type after historic town centres whilst the rise in footfall in market towns was the most modest, suggests that consumers were making the most of the last days of summer to travel further afield to enjoy the great weather.”