The recovery of the UK’s high streets stalled in September as many cities’ and towns’ summer booms ended. This is according to the latest data from the Centre for Cities High Streets Recovery Tracker in partnership with Nationwide Building Society.
Overall footfall in the centres of cities and large towns increased by just one percentage point last month. This is 17 percentage points lower than the increase seen in July and August.
Consumer spending in city and town centres also fell almost everywhere – in many places significantly. While Bournemouth had the biggest increase in visitors this summer, in September the amount of money being spent there fell by 46 percentage points – the most of all the cities studied.
Additionally, Bournemouth and many other tourist destinations such as, Blackpool, Brighton, York and Edinburgh saw large drops in the numbers of visitors in September as the summer holidays ended, raising concerns that their initial recovery from Covid-19 may have been short lived.
| Cities and large towns showing the biggest drops in footfall this September | ||
| Rank | City | Percentage point fall in footfall in September |
| 1 | Bournemouth | -31 |
| 2 | Blackpool | -25 |
| 3 | Swansea | -16 |
| 4 | Brighton | -14 |
| 5 | York | -14 |
| 6 | Edinburgh | -12 |
| 7 | Southampton | -11 |
| 8 | Southend | -10 |
| 9 | Cardiff | -10 |
| 10 | Liverpool | -10 |
| UK urban average: 1 percentage point | ||
| Cities and large towns showing the biggest drops in spending this September | ||
| Rank | City | Percentage point fall in spending in September |
| 1 | Bournemouth | -46 |
| 2 | Middlesbrough | -43 |
| 3 | Blackpool | -39 |
| 4 | Birkenhead | -29 |
| 5 | Liverpool | -28 |
| 6 | Brighton | -28 |
| 7 | Wigan | -26 |
| 8 | Newport | -25 |
| 9 | Preston | -25 |
| 10 | Cardiff | -24 |
| UK urban average: -9 percentage points | ||
Data from the end of September suggests little indication that the 10pm curfew on pubs and restaurants had an effect on footfall, which overall has not fallen as a result of the measures.
| Cities and large towns showing the biggest drops in footfall this September | |||||
| Cities with the highest footfall as a percentage of pre-lockdown average | Cities with the lowest footfall as a percentage of pre-lockdown average | ||||
| Rank | Rank | ||||
| 1 | Basildon | 132 | 1 | London | 35 |
| 2 | Chatham | 129 | 2 | Manchester | 51 |
| 3 | Birkenhead | 123 | 3 | Cardiff | 51 |
| 4 | Blackpool | 116 | 4 | Birmingham | 55 |
| 5 | Burnley | 112 | 5 | Oxford | 55 |
| 6 | Doncaster | 108 | 6 | Liverpool | 59 |
| 7 | Telford | 107 | 7 | Edinburgh | 60 |
| 8 | Southend | 105 | 8 | Leeds | 61 |
| 9 | Wigan | 103 | 9 | Glasgow | 62 |
| 10 | Bournemouth | 102 | 10 | Newcastle | 65 |
| UK urban average: 64% | |||||
The persistently low numbers of people going back to work in city centres, particularly in big cities, reinforces the concerns for the future of shops, cafes, restaurants and bars that depend on office workers for custom.
On average, across large cities and towns just one in five workers have now returned to their place of work. In London, Birmingham, Glasgow, Leeds and Oxford the figure is even lower – at around 15%. Meanwhile in Basildon and Mansfield, the figure has reached almost half.
Centre for Cities’ Chief Executive Andrew Carter said:
“Many places in the UK benefited from the good weather, Eat Out To Help Out and domestic holidaymakers. But it’s clear that this was a seasonal boom and with winter approaching, Covid cases rising and the prospect of more local lockdowns, policy makers need to think hard about how to support places through the difficult months ahead.”
“The Job Support Scheme and related measures will help but, as the Chancellor said, it can’t support every job. However, there is a still risk that many of the local amenities that many of us have made use of this summer could be lost in the months ahead. So, I’d like to see the Chancellor set out how he proposes to protect these for us to enjoy once again when it is once again safe to do so.
“Greater devolution of powers and responsibilities, such as those expected in the postponed devolution white paper would have been one way for to help places help themselves so the Government should press ahead with doing this as soon as possible.”
