Return of hospitality fails to drive retail footfall on opening weekend
The reopening of pubs and restaurants at the weekend failed to spark a surge in retail footfall, according to the latest data.
As pubs and restaurants reopened in England on so-called Super Saturday, footfall at shops increased 9.2 per cent compared to the previous week.
However, this was the smallest week-on-week rise for any day during the period, according to the latest data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC).
Total retail footfall increased 15.3 per cent week-on-week, driven by higher visitor numbers at high streets and shopping centres.
Retail footfall was down 49.6 per cent last week, which marked the third week since non-essential retail was given the green light to reopen, compared to the same period last year, the BRC said.
Footfall was down 53.4 per cent year on year during the previous week, the data showed.
British Retail Consortium chief executive Helen Dickinson said: “It remains a long way back to normality for the retail industry; two weeks after most shops reopened in England, footfall is still only half what it was a year ago.
“The reopening of pubs, cafés and other hospitality businesses this Saturday does not appear to have benefited shops much, with the Saturday showing more modest growth than the days prior to these locations reopening.
“By European standards, the UK’s recovery remains slow, and while safety measures introduced by retailers have been well received by customers, many shoppers are still reluctant to visit physical shopping locations.”
Meanwhile, Barclaycard reported a 19 per cent surge in spending across the hospitality, leisure and entertainment sector on 4 and 5 July compared to the weekend before, and a seven per cent increase in the total value spend.
However, year-on-year the total value of transactions across the industry was down 45 per cent.