High street enjoys best of August footfall rebound, BRC Springboard finds

Numbers of shoppers visiting UK retailers bounced back in August after falling the previous month, with high street shops enjoying the best growth, a report revealed on Monday.

UK footfall picked up 0.1% last month, according to the monthly BRC-Springboard Monitor survey, following the declines of 0.4% in July and 2.8% in June.

High streets enjoyed a 1.% rise in footfall, while there was a 0.4% rise at retail parks, with the 1.9% fall at shopping centres being the seventh consecutive decline.

The BRC report follows last week's retail sales data from the Office for National Statistics, which showed a 0.2% monthly decline and a slowing to 6.2% for the year-on-year number.

Although the increase was only margins, British Retail Consortium chief executive Helen Dickinson said August's better footfall was important as it was only the third time this year that overall footfall has increased.

"So, while these figures will give retailers some cheer, they’ll only be cautiously optimistic for the months ahead," she said.

Dickinson pointed out that the rise in high street footfall coincided with a fall in retail sales for the same period.

"This suggests that people are being drawn to the High Streets for reasons other than to shop - perhaps because many are now doing a better job of providing a mixed offer and are no longer solely retail destinations. Improving this model should bode well for the longer term survival of the British high street.”

Springboard's Diane Wehrle added that the main factor driving the overall rise on the high street was an increase in footfall after 5pm, "which highlights the growing evening economy based on leisure activities – hospitality, food and beverage trips – and is a result of a markedly improved and expanded offering by shopping destinations".