Scotland sees steepest drop in footfall'¨in 15 months

Princes Street in Edinburgh. Picture: Ian Georgeson

Last month saw Scotland experience its biggest year-on-year drop in footfall since June 2016, exceeding the UK-wide fall, as consumers continue to tighten their purse strings.

The British Retail Consortium/Springboard Retail Footfall Monitor found that the level fell by 2 per cent north of the Border in the five weeks to 30 September. It comes as Scottish GDP grew by just 0.1 per cent between April and June this year, compared to 0.3 per cent for the UK as a whole.

UK footfall last month fell by 1.2 per cent from a year previously, the same decrease as in August. Retail parks still saw positive growth, but this slowed, and high-street footfall fell by 2.2 per cent.

BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said: “There’s an urgent need to stall the growing number of retail locations, particularly in more vulnerable parts of the country, falling further and further behind by attracting shoppers to retail destinations with the right mix of products, experience and convenience.”