Last week’s storms significantly impacted the number of people on UK High Streets, with a 3.8 per cent decline in footfall recorded by Springboard.

However - due to the weather -the result between Sunday and Thursday was very different from Friday and Saturday.

Over the five days from Sunday, footfall rose by an average of 5.5 per cent, with a significant uplift of 18.1 per cent on Monday as the school half-term break commenced.

On Friday footfall declined from the previous week by 32 per cent and then by 12.6 per cent on Saturday. On High Streets, numbers were even lower, with a drop of 36.6 per cent on Friday and 17.9 per cent on Saturday.

“Unsurprisingly, footfall across UK retail destinations last week was majorly affected by the severe storms, which negated the positive impact of the start of the February school half-term break,” said Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard. “Storm Eunice landed on Friday and led to significant declines in footfall on both Friday and Saturday. Prior to that Storm Dudley had hit UK shores on Wednesday, but in overall terms this had a more minor impact on footfall.

"Inevitably High Streets felt the greatest effects of the weather, with a slightly stronger result in shopping centres - the vast majority of which offer shelter from the elements - and in retail parks which are easy to access by car."

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