New footfall figures show the number of people visiting Burnham-On-Sea town centre has recovered to pre-pandemic levels for the first time.
The number of people visiting Burnham High Street plummeted when the pandemic started in March 2020 and since then the number of shoppers has dipped up and down as restrictions have changed. However, the latest data shows the number of visitors has risen to 2019 levels.
Data from the two footfall cameras in Burnham High Street here for the week of May 31st-June 6th shows 58,202 people visited during what was a sunny, half-term school holiday week. That compares to 46,027 people in the same week during 2019.
The graph shows the weekly number of people visiting Burnham High Street jumped in April when the lockdown eased. It then tailed off for several weeks until non-essential shops re-opened in May and now footfall has risen above the 2019 numbers.
A spokesman for Burnham-On-Sea Chamber of Trade said this week: “These numbers are a welcome sign of the start of a recovery for Burnham’s town centre after a very challenging year.”
”We encourage local people to support our local shops and businesses – the range of independent shops we have in Burnham is superb.”
“The Chamber of Trade also has a ‘Love Burnham’ promotional campaign underway this summer to encourage visits to our town centre.”
The previous week of data, which saw 50,791 people visit Burnham town centre, included the food festival, and those figures were positive as well, but the total number did not exceed the 2019 footfall during the same week of that year.
