The lifting of lockdown provided some much-needed relief for Britain’s battered high streets, although footfall still remains well below pre-crisis levels.
When shops including fashion chains were legally allowed to reopen on June 15 there were queues outside Primark stores, but other retailers reported that trade remained subdued for the rest of the month.
According to figures from Springboard, the consumer data company, footfall on high streets and in shopping centres jumped by 44.5 per cent in the first week of reopening. However, this bounce slowed to a rise of 2.4 per cent in the second week.
As a result, footfall in June was less than half the level of last year, with an annual decline of 56.6 per cent, but this was a big