High street shopping declined during July heatwave across UK

Fewer people visited UK high streets in July 2024 because of hot weather. Visitor numbers fell 3.8% compared to July the previous year. This followed an even bigger drop of 6.2% in June. Overall, visits to all shopping destinations were down 2.1% year-on-year. Shopping centres also saw fewer customers. However, retail parks did better and returned to growth. Many shoppers chose to buy online rather than go out in the heat. London was hit especially hard, because high temperatures made travelling by public transport unpleasant. In some parts of the country, temperatures reached the mid-30s Celsius. The figures come from Sensormatic research, carried out for the British Retail Consortium.