A record 50,000 visitors came to watch the Tour of Britain in Altrincham

Almost 50,000 people came to Altrincham on Saturday for the Tour of Britain, making it the town’s busiest day since footfall figures started being collated in 2014.

Independent footfall data provided by Springboard showed that the town welcomed an incredible 49,640 visitors, which is nearly 2,000 more than the previous record set by last year’s 2018 Christmas lights switch-on event.

The figure is the highest footfall recorded since the footfall monitors were installed back in 2014.

To mark the first time the Ovo Energy Tour of Britain had ever been hosted by Altrincham, a full programme of entertainment was put on by Altrincham’s Business Improvement District (The BID) throughout the town.

Entertainment included a community stage in the Stamford Quarter featuring live music, fashion shows, performers and choirs, a Battle of the Gyms competition, a ‘fan zone’ in Goose Green and trick bike demonstrations at the bottom of Shaw’s Road.

Across the town, businesses reported their best day’s trading ever.

Natalie Holland, assistant manager at Two Brothers on Stamford New Road, said: “It was a record-breaking day for us, and fantastic to see the positive ripple effect created by the event in another part of the town. We were surprised as the race didn’t actually pass our door to have our best day ever and we were busy throughout the whole day.”

Martin Duff, Randalls Jewellers and Louise Duerr, GIFT+HOME, both located in the Stamford Quarter, also said it was their best September day ever. Costello’s Bar in Goose Green said sales were double that of a typical Saturday.

And Natalie Alexander, from Alexander Hancock Recruitment, added: “As a professional service business in the town it was fantastic to be able to use this event to entertain our key clients, showcasing our business and the incredible town we work in.”

Prior to the bike race Altrincham’s year to date footfall was up by just over 6% on the same period last year. By comparison, Springboard reports that the national high street trend for similar market towns is down by 3.4%.

Huge crowds watch as the cyclists pass through Hale village: