Footfall in the UK rose by 15 per cent ahead of the Easter weekend, according to data from Springboard.

On the Thursday before the bank holiday, the number of people visiting shops increased by around 27 per cent on High Streets and by 22 per cent across all shopping formats.

Across the weekend itself – including Friday, Saturday and Sunday – footfall dropped by 0.1 per cent compared to the previous weekend.

But the sunny weather on Good Friday saw footfall across UK retail destinations increase 5.8 per cent in comparison to the previous week, while High Streets saw the number of visitors jump by 10 per cent.

“Two factors heavily influenced footfall activity in UK retail destinations over Easter this year; the first factor was the warm and sunny weather, and the second factor was that this the first Easter bank holiday weekend since 2019 with no Covid restrictions,” said Diane Wehrle, insights director, Springboard. “The fact that this Easter was the first since 2019 with no restrictions was likely a factor in people making trips to retail destinations in advance of Easter, rather than on the weekend itself.

“In overall terms there was a marginal drop in footfall over the weekend from the weekend before of -0.1 per cent over Friday, Saturday and Monday as a whole. However, the warm and sunny weather which made external attractions particularly attractive to consumers; high street footfall rose by 1.1 per cent whilst in shopping centres - many of which are covered - footfall was 6.1 per cent lower than over the same three days in the previous week.”

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