U.K. footfall bounces back after storms

After two successive storms and the onset of a Russian invasion, retail experts Springboard said footfall rose by 11.1 percent across all destinations last week compared to the previous week.

A sunny Saturday saw the biggest uplift of 43.3 percent more shoppers than the week before.

Footfall rose in all town types last week, with a rise of 17 percent in Central London as fashion week came to close and up 20.3 percent on Springboard's Back to the Office benchmark, indicating more workers are returning to the office following the government’s removal of COVID restrictions.

Diane Wehrle, Insights Director at Springboard, comments: “Footfall across UK retail destinations bounced back in overall terms last week from the severe impact of the storms in the previous week. However, this was wholly due to a recovery in footfall on Friday and Saturday, which was undoubtedly helped by the dry sunny weather on these two days, but also due to exceptionally low comparables in the week before due to the impact on footfall because of Storms Dudley and Eunice."

"In contrast with Friday and Saturday - and despite the school half term - over the five days from Sunday to Thursday footfall was marginally lower last week than in the week before, with noticeable drops on Sunday and Monday. The return of employees to their offices appears to be continuing, with a rise in footfall last week in Central London and in Springboard's Back to the Office benchmark, which tracks activity in areas of Central London that are in close proximity to offices. However, it is likely that a large proportion of the uplift in Central London will have been driven by half term family trips to the capital as footfall in regional cities across the UK between Monday and Thursday increased only very marginally.”