Data released on Thursday morning showed footfall at retail destinations had continued to strengthen since non-essential retail opened in April, but further gains following the reopening of indoor drinking and dining in May were muted.
Research outlet Springboard said footfall in the month was 27.5% lower than the 2019, pre-pandemic level, improving from the 32.7% lower figure in April.
It said wet weather, limitations on dining capacity and the fact that the increase mainly occurred after 1700, when volumes are much lower than during the day, were behind the muted gains.
The gap in footfall from 2019 to 2021 widened over the month, from -25.3% in the first week of May to -26.8% by the last week.
High streets continued to suffer the most, with footfall 36.3% lower on the main drag of UK towns when compared to 2019, while it slid 30.3% in shopping centres, and just 5.7% in car and social distance-friendly retail parks.
Consumers were drifting back into larger destinations for work or leisure, however, with footfall in central London increasing 17.2% month-on-month, and in regional cities elsewhere in the UK by 20.4%, compared with improvements across all UK high streets from April of 7.1%.
Footfall in smaller high streets declined marginally, by 0.7% from April in both market towns and high streets in outer London, as consumers who did venture out made their way to more central shopping areas.
Springboard said the increasing shift of footfall back into London and other regional cities would be “strongly dependent” on whether the government’s roadmap for the easing of restrictions proceeds as planned, or whether easing will be deferred beyond 21 June.
“May was the wettest on record which inevitably lowered the initial exhilaration of consumers in being able to eat out as even visiting indoor environments necessitated braving the weather,” said marketing and insights director Diane Wehrle.
“Secondly, the limitations on dining capacity in indoor venues inevitably means that the uplift in footfall generated has been limited; and thirdly most of the increase in footfall has occurred post-5pm when volumes of activity are far lower than during retail trading hours.”
Wehrle said a positive outcome was the early sign that consumers were drifting back into larger destinations for work or leisure.
“Unfortunately, this seems to have come at a cost for smaller high streets, with footfall declining marginally by -0.7% from April in both market towns and high streets in outer London.
“However, this must be regarded in context as footfall in central London remains -58% lower than in 2019 and -33.7% lower in regional cities outside of the capital, versus -23% in high streets in outer London and -28.6% in market towns.
“The question on everyone’s lips is whether the shift of footfall back into London and other regional cities will continue, however, this will be strongly dependent on whether the government’s roadmap for the easing of restrictions will proceed as planned or whether easing will be deferred beyond 21 June,” Diane Wehrle added.
