Footfall sees largest increase since Easter during half-term week

Footfall across UK retail destinations rose by 8.2% last week from the week before, a greater increase than in any week since Easter 2022, according to Springboard.

Footfall rose in all three key destination types; by 10.7% in shopping centres, by 8.7% in high streets and by 4.2% in retail parks, during the half-term holiday.

The week started quietly with footfall -8.3% lower on Sunday than on the previous Sunday as consumers deferred trips to the half term week. From Monday onwards footfall was significantly higher than in the week before, with rises of 7.1% and 8.3% on Monday and Tuesday, with the uplift increasing further on Wednesday to 13.8%, peaking on Thursday at 20.9% and Friday at 16.7%.

Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, said: “The school half term last week delivered a welcome boost to UK retail destinations, with the largest increase in footfall from the week before since Easter week in April 2022.

“Customer activity increased in all three key destination types, however, high streets and shopping centres performed better than retail parks, both of which benefited from twice the uplift in retail parks. Performance ramped up as the week progressed, with footfall peaking on Thursday and Friday. By Saturday trips had tailed off, and footfall fell marginally below the week before.”