Shoppers cut back on spending last month amid rising interest rates, rain and rail strikes as the Bank of England prepares to raise borrowing costs for a 14th consecutive meeting today.
Retail footfall dropped between June and July for the first time since 2009, when MRI Springboard first started compiling the figures.
Shopper numbers typically rise by more than 3pc between the two months, as the start of the school summer holidays leads to an uptick in people spending time in city centres.
However, the figure dropped by 1.7pc as rain and rail strikes held back consumers already tightening their belts as interest rates impact household finances.
MRI Springboard said there was a risk that high streets could face further pain in the coming weeks, despite another bank holiday at the end of the month.
Founding director Diane Wehrle said the August bank holiday was a “less significant public holiday than Easter, which is what drove additional footfall in April, and the impact of the increase in interest rates, with the Bank of England set to announce on Thursday further increases, is clearly now starting to be felt”.
She added: “The greater impact on footfall in high streets is in part likely to be due to the rain, as shoppers tend to gravitate towards either the covered environments of shopping centres or retail parks as they are easier to access by car.
“There was also likely to be an additional impact on high streets, caused by some employees opting to work from home on the days when rail overtime bans occurred.”
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What happened overnight
Asian stock markets followed Wall Street lower on Thursday after Fitch Ratings cut the United States government’s credit rating.
Tokyo’s market benchmark fell almost 1.5%. Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul declined. Oil prices edged higher.
Wall Street turned in its biggest one-day decline in months after Fitch Ratings downgraded the top-level US government credit rating on Tuesday.
The S&P 500 closed down 1.4pc to 4,513.39 for its sharpest tumble since April, marking its second straight loss after reaching a 16-month high on Monday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 1pc lower, while the Nasdaq Composite finished down 2.2pc.
In the bond market, the benchmark yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.07pc from 4.04pc late Tuesday. The policy sensitive two-year Treasury yield slipped to 4.89pc from 4.91pc as its price rose.
The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo tumbled 1.4pc to 32,244.08 and the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.2pc to 3,254.37. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong retreated 0.5pc to 19,429.17.
The Kospi in Seoul gave up 0.8pc to 2,597.36 and Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 declined 0.5pc to 7,318.20. Jakarta gained while New Zealand and other Southeast Asian markets declined.
