Carlisle has experienced the tenth best retail recovery in the UK since non-essential shops reopened to customers.
Based on research from Ipsos’s Retail Recovery Index, footfall in the city was found to have the tenth biggest increase in the UK in the week following non-essential stores reopening on April 12, compared to the same week in 2019.
Top 10 bounce-back retail locations:
1. Worcester
2. Romford
3. Derby
4. Wolverhampton
5. Leicester
6. Chelsea – Kings Road
7. Middlesbrough
8. Luton
9. Blackpool
10. Carlisle
As a region, the North West saw an above-average recovery, with footfall down -27.3 per cent on the same week in 2019. Nationally footfall was down -28.9 per cent on its 2019 level, on par with Ipsos’ forecast and at a similar level to December, before the winter lockdown.
Dr Tim Denison, head of retail analytics and insights at Ipsos, said: “Our Retail Recovery Index shows the huge appetite for shoppers to return to their local high streets after a difficult period of lockdown.
“The success of these locations, shows clearly that shoppers are continuing to get their retail therapy in their local area and have not yet been drawn back to the UK’s major retail destinations like London, Manchester and Birmingham.”
The Retail Recovery Index will track levels of footfall across the UK following the reopening of non-essential retail on April 12.
The data is constructed from the number of shoppers entering stores using a nationally representative sample of more than 4,000 retail outlets across the UK, excluding the grocery, convenience and minor retail service sectors.
As such it is considered to be a pure measure of retail footfall, drawing exclusively on people entering shops rather than shopping centres or walking down high streets.
