According to retail experts MRI Springboard, footfall across UK retail destinations rose by +3.8% last week from the previous week. This boost comes prior to MRI Springboard’s prediction that footfall across the UK will be -8% lower than the Saturday just gone, and -3.5% lower over the three days from Saturday to Monday. However, MRI Springboard anticipates footfall in Central London and areas such as Knightsbridge that have a strong brand will be more resilient. This will mean that UK footfall will be +4% higher than over same weekend in 2022, but will remain -10% lower than in 2019.
Last week, there were increases in footfall from the week before in all three key destination types, with the largest week on week rise of +5.3% occurring in shopping centres versus +3.5% in UK high streets and +3% in retail parks.
Consumers clearly took an extra day out at the start of the bank holiday weekend, with footfall ramping up significantly from Friday onwards; the average week on week % change from Sunday to Thursday was just +0.9%, but averaged +10.3% over Friday and Saturday (+11.1% on Friday and +9.5% on Saturday).
MRI Springboard’s forecast for an uplift in footfall over the bank holiday weekend averaging +12% appears to have been borne out, with an increase in footfall over Saturday and Sunday of +12.9% from the week before last.
Footfall rose by +4.9% in coastal towns and by +2.7% in historic towns over the seven days last week, with rises in both on Saturday and Sunday that averaged +23.1% and +11.4% respectively. However, there were also rises in footfall of +14.8% in market towns and +10.1% in Outer London. This contrasts with a smaller rise in footfall in Central London over Saturday and Sunday of +5.2% and +8.6% in cities outside of the capital.
Footfall inched slightly higher in relation to the 2022 level last week (to +4.8% from +4.2% in the week before last) but the gap from 2019 widened marginally to -11.6% from -10.2% in the previous week.
Diane Wehrle, insights director at MRI Springboard, comments: “Footfall across UK retail destinations continued to strengthen last week in the lead up to the early Spring Bank holiday weekend, with footfall rising from the week before last across all three key destination types. There was a noticeable uplift from Friday onwards, with MRI Springboard’s forecast for the increase in footfall over the weekend appearing to have been borne out.
Footfall rose across all UK geographies and town types, and not unexpectedly the largest week on week rises amongst the town types were recorded in coastal and historic towns. However, some consumers also clearly stayed local, as there was a rise in footfall in smaller more local high streets that was almost as great as in coastal and historic towns, and larger than in city centres around the UK.
With the rise in footfall over the bank holiday weekend on track with MRI Springboard’s forecast, we are anticipating a drop in footfall over the coronation weekend. This is also likely to occur in Central London but to a lesser degree as the rise in footfall this weekend was not as great as across the UK and many people will visit the capital to witness the event. Whilst the overall footfall level in Central London will be lower than over the weekend just gone, in areas like Knightsbridge that are iconic in terms of the British Brand but relatively distant from Westminster Abbey we are anticipating that footfall will be more resilient.”
Steven Medway, CEO of the Knightsbridge and King’s Road Partnerships, said of the forecast for retail during the Coronation today: “Tourism is the lifeblood of Knightsbridge’s economy. Most of the visitors to our shops, hotels and cultural institutions are international tourists who return several times each year. The festivities around the Coronation and the preparations that have went into this historic event should draw in the region of 10-15% more people across our district. It’ll be a spectacular boon to Knightsbridge with all the same excitement that the Jubilee delivered, and only a little dampened by the Government’s ill-conceived decision to withdraw tax-free shopping.”
