Figures out today from the British Retail Consortium show that
footfall between August and October has fallen 2.3% year-on-year. The data shows that footfall is down in all types of locations with the high street and shopping centres measuring a slump of 2.5%, while out-of-town fell by 2%. Over the last 12 months high streets on average have seen the biggest drop in footfall of 2.7%.
The hardest hit locations were the West Midlands (-10.4%), Scotland (-9.0%) and Northern Ireland (-5.5%) which recorded the sharpest decreases in footfall. South East (2.9%), Wales (1.8%) and Greater London (-0.1%) held up the best.
The BRC also stated that the national town vacancy rates stood at 11.1% in October, with Northern Ireland (12.9%), East Midlands (12.7%) and the North and Yorkshire (12.5%) recording the highest vacancy rates.
The report also added that Augusts’ riots were not widespread or long-lasting enough to have had any noticeable impact on the figures.
Stephen Robertson, British Retail Consortium Director General, said, "In October, UK high streets saw the sharpest drop in footfall since last December's blizzards. A successful Christmas will be a lifeline for many retailers and they will be hoping that sort of disruption doesn't add to their woes this time around.
"Footfall is down on a year ago in all types of retail locations. The town centre vacancy rate hasn't worsened but is still alarmingly high. Consumer confidence remains weak with households' budgets caught between soaring utility and fuel bills and low wage growth. This toxic mix has left people with less money to spend this Christmas than last and that's stopping people shopping."
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