Footfall cameras installed a year ago in Burnham-On-Sea town centre are revealing the busiest and quietest times of the year.
The footfall monitors were installed in April 2016 at two locations in the High Street – on The Railway pub and at the YMCA.
Burnham-On-Sea Chamber of Trade has poured over the data to help businesses understand the peak dates and times of the year.
As first reported here last week, Burnham’s town centre shops had a mixed Easter of trade. However, the footfall cameras reveal that the Easter week was in fact the second busiest week of the whole past year.
“The data shows the week-ending Sunday, 14th August 2016 had the highest total footfall – the peak of the holiday season – while the week-ending Easter Sunday, 16th April 2017 saw the second-highest footfall,” says the Chamber of Tade’s Alex Turco.
“Meanwhile, the week ending Sunday 15th January 2017 had the lowest footfall, with under 40% of the highest week’s footfall. The highest daily measurement recorded to date was on Saturday, 15th April 2017 at the YMCA. The highest daily measurement at the Railway was on Saturday, 13th August during the Spray Jam festival.”
The cameras – which began recording data on 26 April, 2016 – measure movements along pavements only and do not pick up movements on the road from vehicles, or pedestrians when the road is closed.
Of the 50 highest daily readings, 47 were at the YMCA. Of the 20 highest daily readings, eight were in April 2017. Of the twenty highest daily readings, thirteen were on a Saturday. The worst days were Christmas Day and New Years’ Day.
Of the 20 worst readings, 16 were Sundays (all of which were between November and March). Of the twenty worst readings, six were in January. The highest reading (excluding Sundays) is seven times higher than the lowest.
The three days of the late May bank holiday weekend had 13% higher footfall than the three days of the August bank holiday weekend. The three days of Carnival weekend had 16% more footfall than the early May bank holiday three day weekend. Easter 2017 is the second best long weekend (after late May) whether measured Friday to Sunday or Saturday to Monday.
The Christmas Lights Switch-on day last November had the highest Saturday footfall between Carnival and the end of the year.
The Farmers’ Market Fridays have consistently seen strong footfall compared with other Fridays. The February market had the third highest footfall in the month, while the March market was the best Friday of the month.
Of the 50 highest hourly readings, 49 were between 11am and 2pm. Of the twenty highest hourly readings, 15 have taken place since 25 March 2017.
Of the one hundred highest hourly readings, 98 take place at YMCA. Of 17,520 hours analysed, 1,200 hours had no footfall, dominated by Midnight to 5am.
