News: Footfall up in Rotherham town centre

An impressive increase in footfall in February is another indication that Rotherham town centre is bucking the national trend.

Springboard, the retail insights specialist that tracks footfall in over 350 UK town and city locations, has released figures for February that shows that footfall in Rotherham was up by 28.6% compared to the same month last year.

The increase was the second largest in the country and was in stark contrast to the overall national figure where footfall was 5.7% down on this time last year.

Diane Wehrle, research director at Springboard, said: "February traditionally sees low footfall on the high street so no one is panicking just yet. In fact there are some real success stories with the towns of Rugby, Rotherham, and Swindon, bucking the national trend and experiencing substantial uplifts of more than 25% year-on-year.

"These high streets are proof that through deploying additional tactics, by building on their unique offering and local strengths, echoing the Government's localism bill, they have been successful in retaining and attracting shoppers."

Bernadette Rushton, retail investment manager at Rotherham Council, added: "Shop Local is a motto at the heart of our regeneration scheme. Over the past couple of years we have continued to see positive year-on-year footfall results as Rotherham Town Centre adopts various localism schemes to drive footfall to the town centre.

"By actively addressing gaps in our town centre retail offer through various initiatives, including the successful Business Vitality Grants Scheme, we aim to offer our residents something different.

"Markets are an essential part of the mix for a successful town centre and Rotherham was recently recognised as having the Best Outdoor Street Market at a national awards ceremony."

In 2011 the town saw an increase of 6.24% compared to an average national decline in footfall by 1.1%.

Rotherham town centre website

Images: RMBC / twitter