By Nathan Findlay –
On Monday the 12th of April, non-essential local businesses, including coffee shops, pubs and restaurants, were able to open again for the first time in four months. Followed by the more recent easing of restrictions on 17th of May.
This was expected to bring some relief for these businesses after being shut for such a long time. Rising customer spending levels has provided a great boost for lots of businesses across the United Kingdom.
The Centre for Cities ‘High Streets Recovery tracker‘ revealed that the average customer spending across all city centres has reached 72 per cent of its pre-pandemic level. The statistics show the UK economy is taking a positive step forward to recovery, helped by people being out and spending again.
The data also revealed signs of the vaccine-driven boost: The overall spend recovery is 26 per cent higher than it was immediately after non-essential businesses last summer, despite hospitality businesses being able to open outdoors.
The pattern remains the same for these larger cities. However, the data also reveals that larger cities seem to be lagging in this recovery.
Many small and medium-sized towns and cities such as Huddersfield, Blackburn and Birkenhead have higher spend recovery percentages compared to some larger cities such as Edinburgh, Glasgow and London, which are displaying lower spend recovery percentages and are not quite as close to their full recovery stage.
Top 10 city centres for spending recovery
| Rank | City | April 2021 spend recovery (% of pre-lockdown levels) | Difference to summer 2020 reopening (percentage points) |
| 1 | Huddersfield | 119 | 19 |
| 2 | Basildon | 117 | 32 |
| 3 | Blackburn | 117 | 17 |
| 4 | Birkenhead | 117 | 12 |
| 5 | Mansfield | 117 | 29 |
| 6 | Middlesbrough | 115 | 35 |
| 7 | Warrington | 114 | 12 |
| 8 | Preston | 112 | 34 |
| 9 | Wakefield | 112 | 29 |
| 10 | Stoke | 112 | 47 |
Top 10 bottom city centres for spending recovery
| Rank | City | April 2021 spend recovery (% of pre-lockdown levels) | Difference to summer 2020 reopening (percentage points) |
| 53 | Manchester | 73 | 34 |
| 54 | Newcastle | 72 | 32 |
| 55 | Birmingham | 65 | 28 |
| 56 | Oxford | 62 | 29 |
| 57 | Aldershot | 56 | 2 |
| 58 | London | 53 | 26 |
| 59 | Dundee | 34 | -4 |
| 60 | Aberdeen | 24 | 0 |
| 61 | Glasgow | 18 | -12 |
| 62 | Edinburgh | 12 | 4 |
The disparity between the statistics was quite shocking, with some of the largest city centres being at the bottom and the bottom four all being inside Scotland.
The statistics show two west Yorkshire locations at the top of the April 2021 spend recovery table. Wakefield is 9th in the table and Huddersfield is at the top of the table – a positive sign of the Huddersfield community coming back to support the high street.
The Centre for Cities recovery tracker has revealed Huddersfield to be positively positioned, leading the way in April 2021’s Spend Recovery statistics.
You can find out more about how Huddersfield has recovered after lockdown here: Streets Return to Life as Town Centres Open Across Kirklees.
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