Bright winter weather and sales drive Cardiff city centre footfall

With post-Christmas sales well underway, Cardiff city centre is set for a busy week as it welcomes in the New Year, with seasonal sales, a strong hospitality offering and festive experiences combining to keep the Welsh capital lively until January.

It’s part of a UK-wide trend; footfall data from retail tech experts MRI Software showed strong performance for UK retail destinations (including Cardiff city centre) on Boxing Day with footfall up +4.4% year on year across the board; the strongest increase seen in over 10 years.

The boost in activity was driven by a later peak in visits across all UK retail destinations from 5pm – 11pm – suggesting that leisure and hospitality establishments are also benefiting from the annual uplift.

In the Welsh capital, a run of dry, bright winter weather continues to encourage visitors to the city centre to swap gifts, shop sales, spend vouchers and make a day of it – with big brand shopping, boutique historic arcades, and cosy food and drink options all within a short walk of each other.

Carolyn Brownell, Executive Director at FOR Cardiff, the Business Improvement District (BID) of Cardiff city centre, said: “The ‘twixmas’ period is when people want something easy and uplifting without having to make complicated plans – for this, Cardiff city centre is perfect.  

With a spell of bright, dry weather forecast across this week, we’re seeing people enjoying the very best of it; shopping the sales whilst also stopping for food and drink – and taking in the lights and festive displays before they finish in early January.”

As part of FOR Cardiff’s ‘A Very Cardiff Christmas’ campaign, the city’s festive light projections at Cardiff Market and Cardiff Central Train Station (now with a refreshed post-Christmas design) continue to run until 5th January, giving visitors another reason to head into town for an after-dark stroll and a final hit of Christmas sparkle.

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