What: UK retail footfall continues to be well below the pre-pandemic period with no signs that this summer will get it back into positive territory.

Why it is important: Retail destinations are more dependent on visitors from abroad and from dedicated UK shoppers rather than their former key clients of local office workers.

The latest numbers from the Ipsos Retail Traffic Index show that in the week to 10 July, UK footfall dropped as much as 19.9% compared to 2019 in the non-food sector. Ipsos also said that in addition to the 20% fall compared to 2019, against the previous week, the seven days saw a 5.9% footfall drop.

Towns were better off with a drop of 16.8% compared to 2019 and 5.8% compared to the previous week. Retail parks remained the best performers on a three-year comparison with a drop of 17.3%, yet they performed the worst on a one-week basis with a 7.2% drop.

High streets were down 20.4% against 2019 but were only down 4.4% week on week. Shopping centres had the worst of both worlds with a 21.7% drop against three years ago and a 6.3% drop against the previous week.

UK footfall still below 2019 levels