Place Informatics, the leading provider of footfall and location visitor behaviour data monitoring in the UK, has published a new report highlighting the top five performing towns in the North-West based on footfall data from 2022 compared to 2019. According to the new report, in March 2022 when COVID-19 restrictions started to be removed, footfall in the North-West town centres was down 9% on average compared to 2019.

As this table shows Keswick was the top performing town in the North West with a decline of only 3% compared to 2019 figures followed closely by Blackrod, Oswaldtwistle, Poulton-le-Fylde and Workington with a 4% decline. These figures although showing a decline in visitors are significantly higher than the national average footfall data for town centres which currently show a 9% decline compared to 2019 figures.

The extensive report went on to show that across the UK May 2022 delivered the strongest recovery against 2019, however, figures in July dropped again which can be attributed in part to the extreme heatwave in the third week of the month, train strikes and potentially the impact of the cost-of-living crisis. The leading visitor data firm believes its August report will provide further indicators of how the ‘cost of living crisis is impacting town centre footfall.

Town centres across the UK focus on footfall figures from 2019 as an important benchmark for the last full trading year. As the data shows, footfall in town centres was lower in 2022 compared to 2019 overall, due to the impact of changes to working and shopping patterns of behaviour.

Place Informatics uses mobility location data to calculate visitor behaviour patterns for over 2,300 town centres across the UK and all 260 Business Improvement District town centres. Footfall itself is a useful tool to see how town centres, high streets and particular businesses are performing but understanding how these visitors are behaving and also which catchment areas they are visiting from could offer the vital information needed to truly change the fortunes of many town centres across the UK.

This data can help retailers, hospitality, councils and many other businesses and services understand how high street visitors are behaving, where they are attracting visitors from and most importantly what services they are utilising on their visit which may include green spaces and car parks.

Clive Hall, CEO of Place Informatics, commented, “It’s clear the impact of COVID-19 remains an influence in many of our high streets. Town centres and BIDS focus on footfall figures from 2019 as an important benchmark for the last full trading year.

There are early signs that recovery in footfall compared to 2019 is starting to plateau for all town centres regardless of size or region. Our August report will start to show us real indicators of how the cost-of-living crisis is impacting town centre footfall and also, how many of us spent the summer holiday period visiting locations in the UK.”