Town centre sees decade's highest visitor numbers

Events like Barnsley FC home games have attracted visitors to the town

Football fans have helped a South Yorkshire town centre achieve its highest visitor numbers in a decade, figures show.

Barnsley Council surpassed its target of 1.9 million visitors for the first quarter of 2024, with 2.3 million people visiting the centre between January and March.

A corporate performance report, presented to the cabinet this week, outlined how the authority had performed in a number of areas.

Visitors were attracted by a number of events such as Barnsley FC home matches, the Flavours Food Festival, Barnsley Live music festival, Armed Forces Day and the Barnsley 10km run, the report said.

'Thriving'

Councillor Robin Franklin, cabinet spokesperson for regeneration and culture, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “Barnsley continues to buck the national trend for footfall to our town centre.

"Barnsley Market is thriving, attracting thousands of coach visitors nationwide already this year, the highest figures in the last 10 years, from across Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, the North East and North West."

The authority is expecting to attract 7 million visitors to the town centre this year.

“We’re proud of these successes, but we’re also not standing still,” Franklin said.

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