Partygoers lead return to cities but commuters avoid offices
NORTHERN cities and stag and hen hotspots are bursting with life as partygoers celebrated “freedom day” in England with an enthusiastic return to nightclubs and bars since late July.
Yet even as towns across the North of England and seaside destinations enjoy a boom in visitor numbers, well-off cities that rely on commuters, including London, are struggling to draw in office workers.
Paul Swinney at the Centre for Cities said it was part of the vogue for “staycations” as people take more domestic holidays. “Blackpool is at the top in having seen the biggest bounceback. That is linked to domestic tourism, it is benefiting in the short term as people can’t go abroad,” he said, adding that it echoes the boom a year ago from the Eat Out To Help Out scheme.
“It was definitely the case last year that people were more keen to go out from a leisure perspective than for work, and that is happening again so far this year.”
Blackpool is the only location of the 67 tracked by the Centre for Cities where total visitor numbers were back above pre-covid levels. In the final week of July, once most restrictions lifted in England, footfall was a fifth higher than before the pandemic, driven by a boom in night-time revellers.
Seaside locations performed well, with Southend receiving as many partygoers as it did pre-covid, and Bournemouth almost back to normal levels.
York is another success, with footfall at three quarters of its usual levels.
London has just under half of its usual night-time footfall. Overall the capital has just one third of the normal total footfall, barely changing after “freedom day” with the lack of commuters and international visitors.