High street footfall picked up sharply last week, apparently spurred by the announcement of the roadmap out of lockdown as well as sunny weather.

Figures from data company Springboard showed visits to retail destinations rose by 11% compared to the week before in what was described as “ever clearer evidence of lockdown fatigue“.

Live COVID updates from the UK and around the world

High streets saw the biggest increase with footfall up 15.9%, with visits to retail parks up 5.9% and an increase of 6% at shopping centres, the figures for the UK showed.

Overall, numbers for the week beginning 21 February were still down year on year by 56.5% overall as non-essential retailers remain closed. A week before, footfall had been 62.1% down on 2020 levels.

Under the government’s roadmap, non-essential retail will reopen no earlier than 12 April.

Springboard said there was a “very clear acceleration in activity” on Friday and Saturday as the weather improved and consumers “looked to make the most of the weekend”.

In high streets, the biggest increases were seen in regional cities outside London and coastal towns, each up by more than 18% week-on-week.

Central London footfall was up by 16.4% but that was from a much lower base, Springboard said.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Diane Wehrle, insights director at Springboard, said: “Footfall data is continuing to deliver ever clearer evidence of lockdown fatigue amongst consumers.

“Perhaps prompted by the announcement of the government’s roadmap to reopening at the beginning of the week, but then supported by drier warmer weather in the second half of the week, footfall in UK retail destinations rose once again.

“Not only was this the sixth consecutive week that footfall has increased, but its magnitude was greater than in any previous week and nearly twice that in the week before.”

Related posts:

CMA clears £31bn merger between O2 and Virgin Media Asda in talks with bakery staff over redundancy MusicMagpie swoops towards £200m float on London stock market COVID-19 restrictions ease, foreign travel restarts and the future of cinema ‘Signs of recovery’ for jobs market as unemployment falls to 4.8% Eurostar secures £250m COVID rescue package from shareholders and banks Jaguar Land Rover warns of chip shortage struggle as it posts third year of annual losses Job vacancies are at their highest since records began – but why? CVC snaps up Medivet in £1bn deal amid industry boom Gas price surge blamed for UK fertiliser factory shutdowns HSBC fined nearly £64m over ‘unacceptable’ money laundering failures Supermarket shoppers facing £180 a year increase in average spend