159.8 percent more than pedestrians on the shopping street

England and Wales relaxed many coronavirus measures yesterday, including restrictions on non-essential stores. According to figures from Springboard, a British company that counts pedestrians in shopping districts, English shopping streets were 159.8% more crowded yesterday than the previous week. In central London, it was 178% congested, as of 5 pm.

The United Kingdom includes England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Only England and Wales relaxed non-essential store rules on Monday, April 12th. Retail rules in Scotland should be relaxed on April 26. However, the reopening had a general effect on the numbers of pedestrians across the UK. Springboard figures show the entire UK was 146.2 per cent busy Monday from the previous week. In malls, it was 217.4 percent more likely. In England itself, it was 159.8 percent busier on Monday than in the previous week, and in Wales it was 184 percent.

However, the picture becomes less rosy when you compare the numbers with the crowds in 2019. Then the number of visitors was still 16.2 less in the whole UK. Central London had 55.3 per cent fewer visitors compared to 2019, which can be partly explained by the lack of tourists. In England, pedestrians were 11.9 per cent less than in 2019, and in Wales the number of shopping street visitors was 15.9 per cent less.