Coronation set to boost retail footfall

The King’s coronation weekend is expected to drive a 4% uptick in annual footfall across all UK retail locations, researchers have said. High streets are set to post a 5% increase, according to the latest MRI Springboard forecast. The prediction is compared with an expected 4% uplift at retail parks and a 3% increase at shopping centres. Researchers at MRI Springboard predicted that footfall on 6 May – the day of the coronation – will fall below by 8% from the previous week, across all UK retail destinations. However, that decline is set to be driven by “strong” visitor numbers during the May bank holiday weekend preceding the coronation. Last week, footfall increased by 4.2% year-on-year and was up by 1.7% on the previous week. Weekly employee footfall jumped by 7.4%, according to Springboard’s central London Back to the Office Benchmark, as employees returned from the Easter break. Overall footfall in London grew by 5.1%, compared with the week before. To send feedback, e-mail pui-guan.man@eg.co.uk or tweet @PuiGuanM or @EGPropertyNews Photo from Ben Stansall/WPA Pool/Shutterstock