London retail drives decline in UK footfall
Retailers recorded a decline in footfall for the third month running in June, despite the strength of the economic recovery, with London’s shops reporting the steepest decline.
The overall 0.7 per cent drop in foot traffic in June, compared to the same month last year, added to smaller declines in April and May, according to figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Springboard.
Although London’s recovery has been the country’s strongest, footfall is down 2.7 per cent over the same period in the capital, the worst of any region.
The only parts of Great Britain to record footfall growth over the period were the south central region, south west and south east by 0.4 per cent, 1.3 per cent and 2.2 per cent respectively.
Broken down by sub-sectors, high streets have seen the biggest drop in customers, down 1.7 per cent. In comparison, out-of-town outlets are helping to prop the figures up, with foot traffic up 2.4 per cent.
“Out-of-town shopping destinations continue to outperform high streets,” BRC’s Helen Dickinson said.