THE NUMBER of people popping to the shops in the greater Reading area has halved since the coronavirus pandemic began.
This is according to the Centre for Cities, which says that footfall in high streets and town centres in the greater Reading area sits 51% at pre-pandemic levels – this includes Wokingham.
This puts the area above the national average of 43%, but reflects the impact Covid-19 has had on UK high streets and businesses.
“As Reading emerged from the lockdown into Tier 2, workers have continued to stay away,” said Valentine Quinio, researcher at Centre for Cities.
“But, as vaccines roll out and the pandemic hopefully gets under control, the big question for all towns and cities in 2021 will be how much has people’s behaviour changed permanently, and what does that mean for our high streets?”
Now that Berkshire has fallen under Tier 4 restrictions, the footfall in town centres across the county is now expected to drop once more.
To find out more about footfall in high streets across the UK, visit: www.centreforcities.org/data/high-streets-recovery-tracker
Editor’s note – this article was originally published in the edition of Wokingham.Today of December 23, and was written before the Tier 4 announcement was made. The article has been updated to reflect this. With festive deadlines, some stories were prepared ahead of the holidays but have been superseded by events.
