Lockdown fatigue, virus roadmap boosts UK retail footfall in February

(Alliance News) - UK retail footfall posted a double-digit monthly rise, numbers from an industry ...

Alliance News 4 March, 2021 | 5:19AM
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(Alliance News) - UK retail footfall posted a double-digit monthly rise, numbers from an industry body showed on Thursday, amid signs of lockdown tiredness and with consumers taking heart from Prime Minister Boris Johnson outlining a roadmap to easing Covid-19 restrictions.

According to Springboard, UK retail footfall surged 16% month-on-month in February. Annually, the decline eased to 61% from 66% in January.

In high streets, February's annual decline was 68%, with shopping centre footfall dropping 71%. In retail parks, helped by their greater variety and large supermarkets, the decline in footfall was just 35% in February.

Monthly, high street football surged 18%, with retail park footfall climbing 17% and shopping centres rising 12%.

"This is clear evidence of a growing lockdown fatigue," Springboard noted.

"Despite the continuation of the lockdown and no relaxation in restrictions, footfall in UK retail destinations in February rose by 16% from January 2021, the largest month-on-month increase for February since Springboard's footfall data became available in 2009."

Springboard cautioned however, that footfall in UK retail destinations is still only 39% of that in 2020, which in its peak, was 25% below 2019.

"Even with increased consumer confidence generated by the success of the vaccine programme, retailers will have a significant amount of ground to make up if they are to recover to anywhere near pre-Covid levels, reinforcing the need for the high street restart grants to support retailers announced by the chancellor in the budget," Springboard added.

UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak in Wednesday budget statement said the business rates holiday for the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors will continue until the end of June.

Sunak also set out a new Recovery Loan Scheme to replace previous coronavirus financing packages, allowing businesses of any size to apply for loans from GBP25,000 up to GBP10 million through to the end of the year, with the UK government providing lenders with an 80% guarantee.

By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com

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