Vaccine boost for the high street as consumer spending increases – but many big cities lag behind

Vaccine boost for the high street as consumer spending increases across the country – but many big cities continue to lag behind

• Consumer spending highest in North and Midlands after restrictions eased last month
• But shops, restaurants and pubs in London and other big cities continue to struggle
• Government and newly elected metro mayors need a plan to bring visitors back to city centres

April’s lifting of lockdown restrictions provided a much-needed boost to many high streets as spending surged to pre-pandemic levels in more than half of Britain’s cities and large towns – but cities are continuing to struggle.

New data from Centre for Cities’ High Street Recovery Tracker suggests that spending in Britain’s large towns and smaller cities are recovering faster than in its largest urban centres. Northern England and the Midlands is also so far recovering faster than elsewhere – of the 35 places studied where spending has returned to pre-pandemic levels, 20 are in the North and Midlands.

So far, high street spending has recovered the most in Huddersfield, Basildon and Blackburn, while London, Aldershot, Oxford and Birmongham have seen the weakest recoveries in England so far.

Although spending in Scottish cities is the lowest in the UK in April, retail and hospitality opened on a later date than in England.

Cities where spending levels are highest
Rank	City	April 2021 spending (% of pre-lockdown)	Difference to week before reopening (percentage points)	Difference to summer 2020 reopening (percentage points)
1	Huddersfield	119%	48	19
2	Basildon	117%	65	32
3	Blackburn	117%	54	17
4	Birkenhead	117%	80	12
5	Mansfield	117%	77	29

Cities where spending levels are lowest
Rank	City	April 2021 spending (% of pre-lockdown levels)	Difference to week before reopening (percentage points)	Difference to summer 2020 reopening (percentage points)
54	Newcastle	72%	61	32
55	Birmingham	65%	56	28
56	Oxford	62%	45	29
57	Aldershot	56%	15	2
58	London	53%	34	26
59	Dundee	34%	-1	-4
60	Aberdeen	24%	-1	0
61	Glasgow	18%	2	-12
62	Edinburgh	12%	2	4

While high street spending in many larger cities remains below pre-lockdown levels, it is now significantly higher than it was this time last year – suggesting that consumer confidence is returning as more and more people are vaccinated and the pandemic ends.

Despite these positive signs, the Government and England’s newly elected metro mayors must set out plans to encourage people to return to the centres of our largest cities. Without the return of visitors, tourists and office workers thousands of jobs in shops, restaurants, pubs and other city centre services remain under threat.

Centre for Cities’ Chief Executive Andrew Carter said: “We can already see that the vaccination programme and lifting of lockdown is helping businesses get back on their feet. Many cities and towns, particularly those in Northern England and the Midlands, have seen a boom in consumer spending in the past month.

“It’s not all good news, the centres of our biggest cities such as London, Birmingham and Manchester remain quiet as people there continue to work from home. If this doesn’t change in the next few months I’d expect to see more people working in retail and hospitality in our biggest city centres lose their jobs. The Government must work with the newly-elected metro mayors to stop this happening.”