'A significant moment for the town centre': Footfall in Shrewsbury reaches highest level since the Covid pandemic
Shrewsbury's town centre has recorded its highest weekly footfall since Christmas 2019.
The new figures, for the week beginning Monday, December 15, show there were 262,937 visits. The data is calculated by the Shrewsbury Business Improvement District's (BID) footfall cameras on Pride Hill and High Street.
The BID also said that visitor numbers for Saturday, December 20, broke the record for highest footfall recorded on any single day in the town centre since the Covid pandemic.
The BID said the figures indicate the busiest trading week since the last Christmas before Covid in 2019, "suggesting the overall attraction of the town centre continues to grow'.
The town has seen its reputation boosted after being named ‘Britain’s Best High Street’ in the The Telegraph for 2024 and 2025, and ‘Britain’s Most Perfect Market Town’, also in The Telegraph this year.
New annual spend data from Beauclair shows that £132,397,505 was spent in Shrewsbury town centre between December 2024 and November 2025, based on offline debit card transactions.
Food and drink remains the largest sector by spend, accounting for £46.5 million of the annual figure, followed by fashion (£23.6 million), health & beauty (£18.3 million), groceries (£17.6 million) and general retail (£9.9 million).
Seb Slater, executive director at Shrewsbury BID, said: “Saturday, December 20 was the busiest single day of footfall since Christmas 2019, which is a significant moment for the town centre. It shows that more people are choosing to come into town at key times of the year, particularly to enjoy the atmosphere and the experience of getting out and about during the festive period.
"We know from speaking with businesses that their experiences have varied and that higher footfall does not automatically translate into higher sales for everyone.
"However, the data we gather from third party, independent sources does suggest that the town centre is succeeding in attracting visitors, and outperforming the British benchmark for retail performance, especially during the festive period."
