New footfall and employment figures show the night-time economy in Liverpool is recovering strongly after the pandemic despite the cost-of-living crisis. Tony McDonough reports
Liverpool’s night-time economy continues to be a key driver of both footfall and employment in Liverpool city centre, new data from Liverpool BID Company shows.
Despite the cost-of-living crisis restaurants, bars, shops and other venues in Liverpool are showing resilience by and are continuing to attract people through their doors.
Liverpool BID Company, which represents more than 1,000 businesses in the city centre across three BIDs, reports that in 2022 125,889 people worked in the night time economy. This is up from 123,531 in 2021 and 119,750 in 2019.
This represents 24% of the population and 48% of employment in Liverpool. Night-time economy workers are defined as those who “usually” work evenings or nights. That can include day workers as well as night workers.
There are more men working in Liverpool’s night time economy than women. 60% of all night time workers are working in night time industries. More than 40% of night time workers are under 24.
Sectors with the highest proportion of night time workers include accommodation, food and drink.
Liverpool’s night-time footfall has steadily increased each day in 2023 compared with 2019. Weekday foot traffic has shown an average increase of 30.41% with weekends showing an average increase of 45.54%.
On average, Saturday, the busiest day of the week, has seen an average footfall of 735,122. In the hour by hour comparison, midnight has seen the highest percentage difference in footfall in 2023 compared with 2019, with an increase of 80%.
The highest difference in footfall occurs in week five of 2023. It is 72.73% compared to the same week in 2019.
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BID data shows that 6pm is a peak time for footfall and Saturday sees the highest figure of the week – more than 3.5m. This represents more than 21% of total weekly footfall for the city centre.
October is the highest month of the year for night-time footfall (1.65m – 9.92% of yearly footfall). Church St has the highest amount of night-time footfall traffic in the BID area (almost 7m – 41.99% of BID footfall)
Sunday is seeing the highest percentage difference of any day of the week in comparison with 2019, with a 50.02% increase compared with 2019.
Liverpool BID Company works with a number of partners to help manage the city centre night time economy.
Night-time economy businesses within the BID areas are exempt from the Late Night Levy, imposed by Liverpool City Council. This helps ensure their venues are able to continue to make their economic investment in the city centre.
The BID also ensures the night-time economy is managed to support the public realm, including security and safety, working alongside Merseyside Police and other partners to ensure that Liverpool remains one of the safest cities in the UK for a night out.
Bill Addy, chief executive of Liverpool BID Company, said: “Liverpool’s night-time economy is a vital ingredient in the city’s culture and international brand.
“With Eurovision approaching, many are focused on the economic impact the two-week event will have, particularly on the bars, restaurants and leisure attractions in the city.
“The growth in our night-time economy bucks the UK trend but also shows the importance of ensuring that, as a city, we continue to work and strive to make sure the city is safe, clean for visitors and a healthy place to work for its employees.”