Shoppers hit high streets amid break from heat

Data released by retail analyst FootFall shows that shop visits on the nation’s high streets in the last week of July jumped 6.4% over the previous week, the largest such rise in a month.

On the year, however, shop visits are still down 5.7%.

FootFall attributes the recent surge in shopper numbers to the first break from the heatwave that gripped much of the nation, as well as the start of school holidays.

“The start of the school summer holidays traditionally sees an influx of visitors to the high street,” said Natasha Burton, spokesperson for FootFall. “This year has been a particularly busy time as the first week of the holiday coincided with the first breaks in the recent heatwave.

“This meant that people who had been out enjoying the sunshine instead of shopping in previous weeks took advantage of the cooler days to return to the shops, causing even higher footfall levels than we would normally expect at this time.”

However, she added that despite last week’s upturn, the organisation’s data indicates that the World Cup and annual July sales have done little to boost consumer spending in the long-term, and morale on the high street remains subdued.

“It's not all doom and gloom, though, as the school holidays get underway and consumers begin to acclimatise to the hot weather, retailers should hope to see an upturn in the coming weeks,” Burton said.