Concern as Shrewsbury town centre visitor numbers crash by 161,000 compared to last summer
Visitor numbers toShrewsbury town centre have crashed by more than 161,000 this summer compared to last year, according to footfall counters.
Shrewsbury Town Council has instigated a meeting with analysts after statistics for July and August this year showed a drop of more than 30 per cent.
According to data provided by Proximity Futures, there were 352,087 visits to Shrewsbury town centre in July and August 2023. Last year, 514,001 visits were made over the same period - which means a drop of 161,914.
On average, there were more than 8,400 visits a day in August last year. This August, there were only 5,669 visits on average.
Stuart Farmer, the town council's acting operations manager, said at the authority's recreation and leisure committee meeting: "We have instigated a meeting with the provider of the counts.
"We are a bit concerned with the drop in numbers from last year."
The meeting will take place at the end of this month.
In July 2022, a total of 252,908 visits were made to the town centre, with numbers climbing to 261,093 for August.
This year, 176,359 visits were made in July, with a small decrease to 175,728 in August.
The Square was the busiest area in Shrewsbury town centre during both July and August this year, the statistics show.
The busiest day in July was Friday the 7th, with 7,729 visits made, including 1,269 new visitors.
Friday, August 11, the day of the Shrewsbury Flower Show bomb scare, was the busiest day in August this year. A total of 17,499 visits were made to the town centre, of which 3,218 were new visitors.
