There was an increase in High Street footfall and a decrease in the national town centre vacancy rate in January, according to the latest figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and Springboard.

Footfall in January was up 1.2 per cent on a year ago, significantly above the 2.2 per cent decline seen in December, and its best performance since 2014 (excluding Easter distortions). Also registering their best performance in two years is the retail park locations with a 5.2 per cent increase year-on-year. This is ahead of December’s 2.1 per cent rise and above the three month average rate of 3 per cent.

High Streets reported their first rise in footfall since July 2013, excluding Easter distortions, after a 4 per cent decrease in December. Footfall growth in shopping centres also registered its best performance since January 2014, whilst the national town centre vacancy rate dropped from 9.1 per cent (October 2015) to 8.7 per cent – the lowest reported rate since Springboard began recording data in July 2011.

Helen Dickinson OBE, chief executive at BRC, said: “The improvement in shopper footfall witnessed in January provided a timely and welcome fillip to retailers at the start of the year, with retail parks once again recording a stellar performance. Indeed, this was the best overall footfall performance for two years, and well ahead of the three-month average.

“The further reduction in the shop vacancy rate is encouraging, more so against a backdrop in which online retailing is becoming increasingly popular. However, the fact remains that one in every 11 retail premises in our town centres lies empty. The current business rates system, in which rates bills only ever seem to rise, is wholly inadequate to the task ahead, and so it is imperative that the chancellor capitalises on the conclusion of the review next month to introduce a system which flexes with economic conditions and leads to a substantially lower tax burden.”

Diane Wehlre, marketing and insights director at Springboard, commented: “Tracking footfall across 450 individual locations since 2009 has shown that it is the post-5pm period that has been most resilient, with improvements in daytime footfall following on from an increase in activity in the evening. The improved vacancy rate is an encouraging sign, but there needs to be caution about being too optimistic as evidence shows the driving force to be an increase in pop-ups and temporary lets in the run up to Christmas and which are still occupied.”

Six regions reported a rise in footfall for January, with the South West and North and Yorkshire the best performing areas. Scotland reported its second consecutive rise in footfall and its best performance since March 2015, whilst Northern Ireland also recorded a rise. Wales, on the other hand, reported its third consecutive month of footfall decline.

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