Data reveals Heckmondwike as one of the top five performing towns in Yorkshire and Humber

Place Informatics, the leading provider of footfall and location visitor behaviour data monitoring in the UK, has published a new report highlighting the top five performing towns in Yorkshire and Humber based on footfall data from 2022 compared to 2019.

This data showed that Heckmondwike was one of the top five performing town’s, with a decline of only 2 per cent since 2019 before the Covid pandemic hit. Other top-performing towns include Hebden Bridge, with no decline, Whitby, with a 2 per cent decline, and Stocksbridge and Ilkley with a 4 per cent decline.

These figures, although showing no increases or a slight decline in visitors, are significantly higher than the national average footfall data for town centres which currently shows a 9 per cent decline compared to 2019 figures.

Responding to the data, Batley and Spen MP Kim Leadbeater said: "As a Hecky lass myself I've always been a champion for my home town.

“And the good news is that while Heckmondwike is already attracting visitors in large numbers, it's getting better all the time.

“With the improvements on the way to Firth Park, the new bus station and great events like the Farmers' Market, Hecky is becoming even more attractive as a place to live, shop and visit."

The data will help retailers, hospitality, councils and many other businesses and services understand how high street visitors are behaving, where they are attracting visitors from and most importantly what services they are utilising on their visit.

Clive Hall, CEO of Place Informatics, said: “It's clear the impact of Covid-19 remains an influence in many of our high streets. Town centres and BIDS focus on footfall figures from 2019 as an important benchmark for the last full trading year.

“There are early signs that recovery in footfall compared to 2019 is starting to plateau for all town centres regardless of size or region.

“Our August report will start to show us real indicators of how the cost-of-living crisis is impacting town centre footfall and also, how many of us spent the summer holiday period visiting locations in the UK.”

For the full UK BID Footfall Indices Report, visit placeinformatics.com