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Wales has seen the biggest fall in retail footfall in the º£½ÇÊÓƵ with Cardiff also experiencing the largest year-on-year dip of leading cities.

According to the Welsh Retail Consortium the number of shoppers in Wales entering stores on the high street, shopping centres and retail parks in August was down 2.6% on the previous year. The fall was the joint steepest with the south east of England. For England there was a 0.2% fall, while Scotland was down 0.4% and Northern Ireland 1.7%. The biggest rise, 2.5%, was in London.

The overall fall in Wales accelerated on the 0.4% decline in July. On the subsectors making up the overall rate, Welsh shopping centre footfall decreased 3.7% in August on the previous year, with retail park footfall down 2.7%.

Of the 11 core cities assessed the biggest year-on-year decline was seen in Cardiff, with a fall of 4.1%, compared to a dip of 0.3% in July.

The second biggest decline was Bristol, down 3.8%, followed by Glasgow, down 1.9%. The other eight cities measures experienced a rise in year-on-year footfall ,. the highest being Birmingham, up 6.2%, followed by 5.7% in Sheffield and 3.9% in Manchester.

TOTAL FOOTFALL BY NATION AND REGION

GROWTH RANK	NATION AND REGION	Aug-25	Jul-25
1	London	2.5%	-0.5%
2	North West England	0.6%	0.3%
3	West Midlands	0.4%	0.4%
4	North East England	0.1%	1.6%
4	Yorkshire and the Humber	0.1%	1.1%
6	England	-0.2%	-0.3%
7	Scotland	-0.4%	-1.3%
8	East Midlands	-1.2%	-0.2%
9	Northern Ireland	-1.7%	-3.0%
10	East of England	-1.9%	-1.6%
11	South West England	-2.5%	-1.2%
12	South East England	-2.6%	-1.3%
12	Wales	-2.6%	0.4%

TOTAL FOOTFALL BY CITY

GROWTH RANK	CITY	Aug-25	Jul-25
1	Birmingham	6.2%	2.6%
2	Sheffield	5.7%	7.3%
3	Manchester	3.9%	3.9%
4	Liverpool	3.0%	-1.7%
5	Edinburgh	2.7%	0.6%
5	Leeds	2.7%	2.4%
7	London	2.5%	-0.5%
8	Belfast	1.0%	-2.9%
9	Glasgow	-1.9%	-1.5%
10	Bristol	-3.8%	-3.5%
11	Cardiff	-4.1%	-0.3%

Sara Jones, head of the Welsh Retail Consortium, said:“August proved challenging for Welsh retailers, with shopper footfall declining across all retail destinations. Wales recorded the lowest footfall of any º£½ÇÊÓƵ nation, falling by almost 3% compared to July. Cardiff was hit particularly hard, with a 4.1% drop in visitors, despite a packed calendar of summer events and promotional campaign. Indeed, it seems concert-going and experiences trumped visits to stores during the month.