Footfall in UK retail destinations increased by 4.1 per cent on Monday between 5pm and 12am, compared to the previous week.

Up to 5pm on the first day of the reopening of indoor hospitality, footfall across all retail destinations actually declined by 3 per cent from the same period seven days before. But from 5pm onwards it increased.

Over the 24 hour period, footfall was 0.2 per cent lower than the previous Monday, despite the heavy rain.

Across the three destination types, High Streets were the clear winner, with a drop of 1.6 pre 5pm and a rise of footfall by 5.6 per cent post 5pm. High Street footfall ended up 1.4 per cent higher than the previous Monday.

The East Midlands, North and Yorkshire, the South West, Wales and the West Midlands all recorded increases in footfall post 5pm of more than 10 per cent and in three regions rises were in excess of 20 per cent.

In contrast with the rest of the UK, in Central London footfall was stronger before 5pm than in the evening, up by 1.3 per cent during the day and declining by 2.8 per cent in the evening.

In regional cities outside of London the reverse was true with a huge rise in footfall in the evening of 22.4 per cent.

“Heavy rain showers acted as somewhat of a dampener on the first day that indoor hospitality reopened up until 5pm. Rather than seeing increases in footfall from last Monday, by 3pm footfall across all UK retail destinations was 2.8 per cent lower than on Monday last week,” said Diane Wehrle, insights director, Springboard. “However, as the day led into the evening large parts of the country saw a significant increase in footfall after 5pm underlining the considerable demand for indoor dining."

Wehrle added: “The highlight was that in regional cities and tourist towns footfall increased by as much as 20.2 per cent in some areas of the UK. Greater London was perhaps hardest hit of any destination, with a drop in footfall of 4.4 per cent yesterday in comparison with Monday last week.”

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