'Pedestrian purchases drives up sales'

Making high streets and town centres more walkable increases time and money spent in those businesses, Catherine Woodhead, chief executive of Living Streets, said

A rise in sales in pedestrianised areas backs plans to find ways for people to enjoy shopping areas without relying on cars, a councillor said.

Research carried out in locations including Shrewsbury showed pedestrians spend more money than people arriving by car, and pedestrianised town centres have higher sales.

Data from before the pandemic was compared with 2022 to 2023 for pedestrianised and non-pedestrianised areas and sales in the town rose on average by 14%, charity Living Streets said.

People prefer centres not dominated by traffic, town council leader Alan Mosley said.

“The fact that sales have been higher in the area where people are encouraged to linger and enjoy the town centre in traffic-free streets would certainly seem to back up our strategy of finding more ways for people to travel in and around Shrewsbury rather than always having to rely on a car," he said.

Living Streets' latest report looked at the economic contribution of walking "and wheeling" to high streets.

In 2020, during the pandemic, High Street, The Square and Shoplatch, Shrewsbury’s busiest pedestrian streets, were closed to traffic every day from 10:00 to 16:00 for a three-month trial.

After social distancing restrictions were lifted, they were continued and made semi-permanent in early 2023.

"Growth in the pedestrianised areas was 25 percentage points higher than in the non-pedestrianised areas (37% compared to 12%)," the charity said.

"The most significant growth in the pedestrianised areas was in the ‘grocery’, ‘general retail’ and ‘food and drink’ sectors (which respectively grew 30%, 45% and 66% more than in non-pedestrianised areas).

Seb Slater, executive director of Shrewsbury Business Improvement District (BID), said he was delighted at Shrewsbury being highlighted in the report.

"One of the key aims of the Big Town Plan is to enable the town centre to grow and evolve into an even more attractive destination where more people choose to spend their time - whether they are visitors, residents or workers.”