A combination of an early Easter and icy weather caused footfall in London’s West End to fall 11.1 per cent.

The decline is compared with last year, when the four-day break in early April was accompanied by exceptionally warm weather.

However, the West End continued to outperform the rest of the UK – a trend that has been unbroken for the past 29 months – which reported shopper numbers down nearly 20 per cent, according to figures from the New West End Company.

Hamleys managing director Nick Mather said: “Hamleys has bucked high street trends with a record Easter weekend. The Regent Street store saw a 24 per cent increase in sales compared with Easter 2007.”

Jace Tyrrell, a spokesman for the New West End Company, said: “Fortunately for London’s West End, 46 per cent of our visitors are tourists and a full 25 per cent come from overseas. The figures do not necessarily show the increase we would have liked to see on Easter weekend. Last year’s increases in footfall were up 16 per cent.”

Topics