Eat Out To Help Out is helping high streets – but Government calls to get people back to the office is falling on deaf ears

• Good weather and Eat Out To Help Out has boosted high street footfall
• But retail and hospitality jobs at risk as office workers continue to stay away
• Think tank warns this may not be sustained as we head into autumn

New data from the Centre for Cities High Street Recovery Tracker reveals that Eat Out To Help Out is helping the high street, but workers are resisting the Government’s calls to get back to the office – with average weekday city centre footfall showing no change at all since early July. 

Using mobile phone data, the tracker shows that the Eat Out to Help Out scheme has encouraged more people to visit city and town centres. On average on Monday to Wednesday evenings in early August visitor numbers were 8 percentage points higher than in late July.

But the scheme has been less effective in large cities. In London, the number of city centre visitors on Eat Out to Help Out nights was just 3 percentage points higher than the same nights in late July – one of the lowest increases in the UK. In contrast, average footfall on Eat Out to Help Out nights in small cities was on average 10 percentage points higher than in late July and in medium sized cities it was 14 percentage points higher. 

Seaside towns appear to have been some of the biggest beneficiaries of the Eat Out To Help Out scheme and the good weather. With a 23 percentage point increase in Monday to Wednesday night visitors, Bournemouth has had the biggest Eat Out To Help Out boom. Meanwhile Southend, Blackpool and Brighton have also benefited.

Where is the Eat Out To Help Out Scheme encouraging city and town centre visitors?
Rank	City or town centre	Biggest percentage point increase in Mon-Wed night visitors from late Jul to early Aug	Rank	City or town	Smallest percentage point increase in Mon-Wed night visitors from late Jul to early Aug
1	Bournemouth	23	1	Aberdeen	-3
2	Southend	22	2	Basildon	0
3	Dundee	21	3	Aldershot	3
4	Doncaster	20	4	London	3
5	Peterborough	19	5	Barnsley	4
6	Swansea	19	6	Blackburn	4
7	Ipswich	19	7	Sheffield	5
8	Middlesbrough	18	8	Wigan	6
9	Milton Keynes	18	9	Manchester	6
10	Blackpool	18	10	Mansfield	6
UK city average: 8 percentage point change from late July to early August (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday)Source: Locomizer

Workers are showing no signs of getting back to the office…

The number of workers heading back to the office has increased in fewer than half of the UK’s biggest city and town centres.

In central London and Manchester, early August weekday footfall rose by just one percentage point compared to the early July. While Leeds, Bristol and Nottingham all saw no change and in Birmingham city centre the number of workers has fallen this summer.

The persistently low numbers of workers going back into city centres, particularly in big cities, reinforces the concerns for the future of shops, cafes, restaurants and bars that depend on office workers for custom.      

Where are people heading back to the office?
Rank	City or town centre	Biggest percentage point INCREASE in worker footfall between w/c 29 Jun and w/c 3 Aug	Rank	City or town	Biggest percentage point DECREASE in worker footfall between w/c 29 Jun and w/c 3 Aug
1	Ipswich	8	1	Blackburn	-15
2	Dundee	5	2	Basildon	-10
3	Swansea	5	3	Plymouth	-7
4	Cardiff	4	4	Northampton	-6
5	Liverpool	3	5	Gloucester	-6
6	Edinburgh	3	6	Barnsley	-5
7	Bournemouth	3	7	Aberdeen	-4
8	Newcastle	3	8	Blackpool	-4
9	Glasgow	2	9	Wakefield	-4
10	Middlesbrough	2	10	Slough	-4
UK city average: 0 percentage point change from w/c 29 June to 11 AugustSource: Locomizer

Summer has bought better news for businesses in some places. Seaside towns in particular have seen some of the biggest boosts in visitors since the beginning of July with Bournemouth, Blackpool, Southend and Brighton all seeing increases.

But, again, overall footfall in bigger cities is much weaker than in smaller places. Central London’s overall footfall increased by just five percentage points since early July, and Manchester and Leeds’ by 7 percentage points. On the other hand, footfall in small cities increased by 14 percentage points and medium-sized cities by 18 percentage points over the same period.

Where has had the biggest increase in footfall?
Rank	City or town centre	Biggest percentage point increase in footfall between w/c 29 Jun and w/c 3 Aug	Rank	City or town	Smallest percentage point increase in footfall between w/c 29 Jun and w/c 3 Aug
1	Bournemouth	59	1	Blackburn	-5
2	Blackpool	51	2	Basildon	-1
3	York	35	3	Bradford	0
4	Dundee	32	4	Northampton	3
5	Southend	31	5	Luton	4
6	Brighton	31	6	Aldershot	4
7	Edinburgh	30	7	London	5
8	Swansea	26	8	Mansfield	5
9	Plymouth	22	9	Wakefield	6
10	Exeter	22	10	Aberdeen	6
UK city average: 11 percentage point change from w/c 29 June to 11 AugustSource: Locomizer

Centre for Cities’ Chief Executive Andrew Carter said: “Good weather and the Eat Out to Help Out scheme have helped increase the number of visitors to city and town centres.

“But a question mark remains over whether the footfall increase that we have seen this summer can be sustained into the autumn without the good weather and Government incentive – particularly with so many people still working from home.  

“Shops, restaurants and pubs face an uncertain future while office workers remain at home. So, in the absence of a big increase in people returning to the office, the Government must set out how it will support the people working in city centre retail and hospitality who could well find themselves out of a job by Christmas.”