The number of people visiting Britain’s high streets fell last month, thanks to rising costs, wet weather and rail disruption.
Overall customer numbers in retail destinations declined by 0.3% month-on-month. It was the first time that July has produced a lower figure than June since MRI Springboard began publishing its data in 2009.
High streets were hit most severely, with a month-on-month decline of 1.7%, offsetting a slight rebound in retail parks, which were up by 0.7%, and shopping centres, up 1.7%.
Even that lift was more subdued than in previous years, where the increase in shopper numbers from June to July has averaged 2.5%.
