UK retail footfall has increased significantly in April 2025, driven by the combination of favourable weather conditions and the Easter holiday timing, as per latest data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC)-Sensormatic.
During the period from 6 April to 3 May 2025, overall footfall increased by 7.2% compared to the previous year. This marks a turnaround from the 5.4% decrease observed in March.
Specifically, high street locations experienced a 5.3% year-over-year (YoY) increase in footfall for April, recovering from a 4.0% decline in March.
Shopping centres also saw a boost with a 5.6% increase in footfall, compared to a 5.8% dip the month prior.
Retail parks outperformed other formats with a 7.5% rise, an improvement from the slight 1.2% fall seen in March.
All countries within the UK saw footfall growth over the month, with Northern Ireland recording the highest surge at 14.3%, followed by Wales with 13.6% footfall growth.
Scotland and England registered 6.9% and 6.7% footfall growth respectively in April.
The BRC noted that a comparison of March and April combined against the same period in 2024 was conducted to mitigate any distortions caused by the shifting date of Easter.
The results showed an overall UK footfall uptick of 0.2%, with high street locations maintaining this positive trend with their own 0.2% increase and retail park at 2.7%.
Conversely, shopping centre footfall exhibited a slight decline of 0.7%.
BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said: “A late Easter and some welcome rays of sunshine encouraged shoppers to head out to their local shopping destinations in April.
“Adjusting for the late fall of Easter this year, footfall across March and April showed a small but positive trend, with retail parks continuing to perform the strongest out of all locations. This reflected the unseasonally warm and bright weather right across the UK. In England, the North East saw particularly strong growth in footfall, with Manchester and Liverpool both recording double-digit improvements in footfall. Retailers will be hoping this momentum continues into the summer months.”
