Footfall drops as strikes take action

Footfall across all UK high streets is down -8.5% compared to last week, as workers stay at home due to the transport strikes.

London saw the greatest reduction, with a 17% drop from last week.

Diane Wehrle, Insights Director at Springboard said: “The impact on train and tube strikes today on footfall is very clear to see , with a large proportion of people clearly working from home.

“Over the period up to 1pm today footfall in Central London was -27% lower than last Tuesday and in city centres outside of the capital it was -11.2% lower. In contrast footfall in Outer London and market towns was less impacted (-6.2% and 2% respectively) which is synonymous with home working as it is easier for people who are in their home offices to visit their local high street during working hours.”

She added: “The drop in footfall in Central London and regional cities means that the gap from the 2019 footfall level has widened considerably – to -49.2% and -29.8%, which are levels that are equivalent to those recorded during lockdown. In contrast, in market towns the gap from the 2019 footfall level has narrowed to just -2.5% below 2019 and -13.4% in Outer London.”