Altrincham spectacularly bucked the national trend with a footfall increase of nearly THIRTY per cent this Christmas.
Visitors to the town in December surged by 28.1% compared to December 2015, while November wasn’t far behind, with numbers up 19.4% on the previous year.
Altrincham therefore stands in stark contrast to the country as a whole, with the UK average seeing a decrease in footfall of 0.7% year on year in November and an increase of just 0.9% in December (source: Springboard).
The eye-catching figures follow a spate of new openings in the town in the lead-up to the festive period, including Bistrot Pierre, The Con Club and Porta, while Altrincham Market continues to prove a huge draw regionally and beyond.
2016 also saw a number of popular retail brands open in the town, including Paperchase and JD Sports.
Katie Bland, BID Manager for Altrincham Unlimited, said: “We are delighted with this significant increase in visitors to Altrincham town centre in November and December 2016. The Christmas season saw Altrincham Unlimited’s first major marketing campaign, with investment in radio, print and online advertising plus a number of festive events, and the impact appears to have been extremely positive.
“An ever-improving retail offer, a number of high-profile restaurant openings, popular Christmas markets and festive family activities all combined to give Altrincham a real buzz in the weeks leading up to Christmas, and made the town a highly attractive destination. We are now finalising a full calendar of events to build on this momentum and give visitors plenty of reasons to keep coming back in 2017.”
David Wightman, manager of Altrincham’s Stamford Quarter Shopping Centre, said November and December had been “exceptionally busy months” for the Stamford Quarter.
“The lantern parade and Christmas lights switch-on event in mid-November were a great launch to the festive season and visitor numbers to our car park then grew further throughout December, culminating in Saturday 17th December as our busiest day since records began in 2010.
“Altrincham is well and truly back on the map as a Christmas shopping destination and it is great to see.”
