England’s second lock down has brought the retail industry’s painstaking recovery to a screeching halt as footfall fell across the UK by 15.4% for the first week of November.

The numbers would be even worse were it not for a mini boom before Downing Street’s response to SAGE committee’s alarming covid forecasts forced all of England’s non essential shops, pubs, restaurants and cafes to close. Supermarkets, grocers, petrol stations, pharmacies and newsagents are among a range of retailers allowed to remain open.

Over the four days between Sunday and Thursday, footfall rose from the week before by an average of 11.7%, and on Tuesday and Wednesday the uplift averaged 18.9% peaking at +20.4% on Wednesday, according to retail analyst Springboard.

From Thursday onwards footfall crashed by an average of 46.7% from the week before.

“Last week was in the clearest sense a week of two halves. With the second lock down being announced on Saturday evening before the start of the week on Sunday, but not coming into force until Thursday, it was inevitable that there would be a last minute surge in activity, which is exactly what occurred,” says Diane Wehrle, Springboard’s insight director.

From Thursday to Saturday last week, footfall plummeted to an average annual drop of 61.6% across all retail destinations, double the year-on-year decline of 29.9% in the week before.

Varying interventions in different nations of the UK delivered different results. There was a marginal rise of 0.9% from the week before in Scotland and a decline of 3.6% in Northern Ireland. In Wales — even before its two week lock down had ended — footfall rose by 10.9% from the week before, although it still remained 70% lower than in 2019.

Central London remains the worst affected location, with footfall down 56.2% for the first week of November.