Rail strikes heavily impact footfall, particularly in high streets with Central London the hardest hit

The evidence is clear that UK retail destinations have been hugely impacted by the rail strikes this week in terms of footfall, which inevitably will have meant a significant reduction in the amount spent in both retail and hospitality businesses.

Over the three days from Monday to Wednesday footfall across all UK retail destinations was -8.6% lower than the week before and -15.1% lower in high streets.  These results are in sharp contrast to the same three days in the week before (Mon 5th to Wed 7th December) when footfall across UK retail destinations was +3.3% higher than in the previous week and +2.9% higher in high streets.  Indeed, as this is a week closer to Christmas, we would have expected to see an even greater increase of footfall this week.

In Central London, where public transport has a greater influence than in other cities, footfall was hit even harder, with a drop from the week before between Monday and Wednesday of -26.5% versus a week on week increase of +8.3% over the same three days in the previous week.  MRI OnLocation‘s Central London Back to the Office Benchmark (which tracks footfall in areas of Central London close to offices) declined even further with an average drop of over the three days of -30.8%, demonstrating that many employees are working from home.

This drop in footfall means that the gap from the 2019 level widened significantly.  The gap from 2019 widened to -23.7% across all UK destinations and -27.2% in UK high streets from -10.4% and -10.1% respectively over the same three days in the week before. In Central London the gap from 2019 widened to -33.4% (-31.8% on the basis of MRI OnLocation’s Central London “Back to the Office” benchmark¹).

Footfall was also lower between Monday and Wednesday than over the same three days in 2021; -4% lower than 2021 across all UK retail destinations and -5.2% lower in high streets.  This is a significant reduction in activity from the week before when footfall between Monday 5th and Wednesday 7th October was +17.4% higher than 2021 across all UK retail destinations, and +26.2% higher in UK high streets.  Last week footfall in Central London was +42.4% higher than in 2021 between Monday and Wednesday, and it was just +2.2% higher than 2021 over the same three days this week.

¹MRI OnLocation’s Central London “Back to the Office” benchmark tracks footfall in locations in Central London close to offices.

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