Solid Footfall Figures for Scarborough Town Centre

Wednesday, 4 September 2024 06:00

By Matthew Pells

Scarborough continues to have the highest footfall figures in North Yorkshire.

The number of visitors to the town centre remains strong but does show some seasonal variation.

North Yorkshire Council's Executive Member for Business - Councillor Mark Crane - says the authority is continuing to monitor the figures along with empty shop data to help identify ways of further increasing visitor numbers.

The latest footfall data shows Scarborough Town centre continuing to be the highest footfall area in the county and also shows strong performance in Whitby.

A quarterly performance report presented to North Yorkshire Councils Executive Committee said:

"As expected, the two largest towns of Scarborough and Harrogate have the highest footfall across the year, by some considerable margin. The findings do highlight the seasonal variance in terms of footfall with Scarborough, Whitby and Filey generating higher numbers across Q’s 2 2023/24 and Q1 2024/25, the traditionally milder summer months.

Conversely footfall in other locations is typically static with some slight increases over Q’s 3&4 in some cases (possibly linked to seasonal events around autumn and winter months).

In terms of using this data and the potential it can unlock it will be valuable in helping to understand changing habits and behaviours over time. The information should help track the impact of major events within the towns and help establish potential declines in footfall and ultimately economic activity of the centres"

It's hoped the Revitalisation of Scarborough's Brunswick centre will help attract even more visitors to the town centre.

North Yorkshire Council is to spend £350,000 on a feasibility study looking at the proposals.

Councillor Simon Myers thinks the Brunswick proposals would help drive more visitor growth.