Footfall across Yorkshire's high streets and shopping centres stumbles ahead of Christmas

Yorkshire footfall was down 13.2 per cent on November three years ago – a comparison to iron out pandemic discrepancies – according to British Retail Consortium (BRC)-Sensormatic IQ data.

Although the region as a whole saw one of the most shallow declines, just behind Northern Ireland and the North West, when looking at individual cities, Leeds saw one of the biggest drops in footfall – 16.3 per cent – behind Bristol and Birmingham.

Total UK footfall decreased by 13.3 per cent in November, 1.5 percentage points worse than October. This is worse than the three-month average decline of 11.5 per cent.

High streets footfall declined by 13.6 per cent in November, compared to November three years ago, 2.0 percentage points worse than last month's rate, and worse than the three-month average decline of 12.3 per cent.

Retail parks saw footfall decrease by 4.2 per cent during the period, 0.5 percentage points worse than last month's rate and worse than the 3-month average decline of 2.7 per cent.

Shopping centre footfall declined by 23.2 per cent, 1.4 percentage points worse than last month's rate and worse than the three-month average decline of 22.6 per cent.

On a year-on-year basis, total footfall increased by 3.7 per cent; high streets by eight per cent and shopping centres by seven per cent. Retail Parks decreased by four per cent.

Helen Dickinson OBE, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, said: “Footfall took another stumble as the cost of living crisis put off some consumers from visiting the shops in November.

"Others opted to stay home due to the scattering of rail strikes, or chose the World Cup over shopping visits. Many big cities were particularly hard hit, with Birmingham, Bristol and Manchester all seeing the biggest drops in footfall since January.”

She added: “Rising inflation and low consumer confidence continue to dampen spending expectations in the run up to Christmas.

"Despite retailers doing their best to keep prices as low as possible for their customers, financial concerns are trumping spending for many households. But, with three more weeks to Christmas, retailers hope that the festive spirit may still give a welcome boost to both footfall and retail sales.”

Andy Sumpter, retail consultant EMEA for Sensormatic Solutions, said: “As retailers readied themselves for the start of peak trading ‘proper’, November brought a slew of disruption and opportunity, almost in equal measure.

"While train strikes did spell disruption to many, concerns that the untested format of a ‘Christmas World Cup’ could take the shine off retailers’ Black Friday efforts proved unfounded, with the results in-store bettering the results on the field for England and Wales.

"With footfall on Black Friday surpassing 2021 levels, retailers will be hoping this signposts a resilience in consumer demand, even in the context of the rising cost-of-living, as they head into the critical December Christmas trading period.”