Northampton Christmas footfall figures up significantly on last year
Visitor numbers in Northampton town centre during December were up more than 8% compared with the same time in 2010.
During December 2011, 1,479,468 visitors were recorded in the town centre compared with 1,368,654 visitors over the five week Christmas and New Year period last year. This is an increase of 8.73% or 118,814 additional visitors in to our town centre.
The increase in December is against a background of a much smaller overall drop in visitor numbers throughout 2011 as a whole: visitor numbers were down on 2010 by 2.86% from 15,973,875 to 15,517,462 or a total of 456,413 fewer visitors.
At the same time, figures revealed that more people parked in the Borough Council’s car parks in December than at the same time the year before – 216,330 cars parked in December 2011 compared with 186, 380 in 2010.
Cllr Tim Hadland, Cabinet member for Planning, Enterprise and Regeneration at Northampton Borough Council, said:"The increase in visitor numbers in the run up to Christmas is excellent news and a tribute to everyone who has worked to make it a success. These are tough times for our high streets and I am particularly pleased that the measures we put in place - free parking and the reduction in parking charges, combined with the spectacular Christmas trees and lights - have paid off and brought more people into town.
"We will continue to work hard with the BID and our other partners to spread the message that Northampton Town Centre welcomes everyone. Our parking offers, with first hour free, reduced hourly rates and free Sunday parking will continue and we’ve got a great year of events planned to encourage visitors to keep coming.”
Footfall in Northampton town centre is calculated using cameras in the Market Square and Abington Street. The figures are compiled for Northampton Borough Council’s town centre team by an independent company, Springboard, who operate footfall cameras in hundreds of town centres, shopping centres and retail parks around the country.
Stephen Chown, Chair of Northampton Town Centre BID, said that he was delighted that the Christmas marketing strategy had proved successful. "The BID is working on behalf of local businesses to keep up the momentum that we have built up and we are committed to making sure that Northampton continues to buck the national trends as we did during 2010 and as we have done again at Christmas.”
Posted by: Northampton Borough Council
