Footfall in shopping centres rose 7.4% in January 2025. Credit: Travel-Fr/Shutterstock.

UK retail footfall witnessed a significant uptick in January 2025, with a 6.6% increase compared to the same month in 2024.  

This follows a 2.2% decline during the December holiday season, as reported by the latest British Retail Consortium (BRC)-Sensormatic figures. 

High street locations experienced a 4.5% rise in footfall year-on-year (YoY), despite winter challenges showing a substantial improvement from the -2.7% dip in December.  

Shopping centres also saw a notable increase, with footfall climbing 7.4%, compared to a -3.3% decline the previous month.  

Retail parks outperformed other categories with robust 7.9% growth from a neutral position in December. 

The positive trend was consistent across all four UK nations, with Wales in the lead with an 8.5% increase in shopper visits.  

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England followed closely with a 7.4% rise, while Northern Ireland and Scotland reported more modest gains of 3.5% and 1.0% respectively. 

British Retail Consortium chief executive Helen Dickinson said: “Shopper footfall received a welcome boost in January following a disappointing festive period. Store visits increased substantially in the first week of the month as many consumers hit the January sales in their local community, with shopping centres faring particularly well. Despite snowy weather and Storm Eowyn causing disruption in some areas, footfall was still positive across major UK cities over the whole month. 

“Improved shopper traffic is welcome news for high streets following a particularly difficult ‘Golden Quarter’ to end 2024, and low consumer sentiment to start the year.  

“Retailers want to invest more in stores and staff to enhance the shopping experience for customers and help to grow the economy, but the swathe of additional costs from April will limit investment and lead to job losses and higher prices at the tills. To drive growth in communities across the country, the government must ensure costs are limited in other areas. This can be done by delaying packaging taxes and ensuring that business rates reform leaves no shop paying more than they currently do.”