Latest figures show a surge in visitors to restaurants in Liverpool ONE in August, following new the overall footfall in the city centre during the month was up 27%. Tony McDonough reports

Visits to restaurants in Liverpool ONE in August soared by 85% compared to the same month in 2019, a further confirmation of the success of the Eat Out to Help Out scheme.

Last week, Liverpool BID company reported a 27% rise in city centre footfall compared to the previous month. The rise was particularly marked on Mondays, Tuesday and Wednesdays when the Government’s Eat Out to Help Out 50% discount was in operation.

At the latter end of August, Liverpool ONE reported footfall growth of 3%compared to last year, with the final week proving to be the second busiest week of the year so far.

Data from Liverpool BID Company, which manages both Business Improvement Districts in the city centre, shows that on Wednesday August 26, there were a total of 180,154 people in the city centre, compared to 182,145 on Wednesday, March 11 – just before shops and restaurants were ordered to shut. Data also shows:

• The biggest impact was on Mondays, where there was a noticeable increase in footfall throughout August, compared with Mondays in July.
• Retail and hospitality reopening had the biggest increase on city centre footfall in June and July.
• The good weather in July, and then later August, helped to boost the figures as people take advantage of Liverpool BID Company, Liverpool City Council and Culture Liverpool’s Liverpool Without Walls and outside dining offer.

Liverpool City Council launched a £450,000 fund in June to help local small to medium sized businesses redesign outdoor spaces and turn them into covered seating areas – making up for the internal space they have lost as a result of social distancing restrictions.

It has seen Bold Street closed to traffic across the summer and wooden parklets installed along the road, transforming the area, which has proved to be hugely popular with businesses and visitors.

Part of Castle Street has also been temporarily closed to traffic, enabling venues to spill out on to the streets. Altogether it has created 2,700 extra covers for drinking and dining in the city centre. However, despite the improvement, footfall across the city centre remains down around a third on August last year, largely due to a lack of international tourists and fewer office workers.

On Thursday, Marketing Liverpool launched a new campaign to persuade people as far afield as Yorkshire to visit Liverpool this autumn.

Director of Culture Liverpool, Claire McColgan, said: “These encouraging figures demonstrates clearly that the work we have been doing over the last few months is making a huge difference to the economy of the city centre.

“Make no mistake: people have been given the confidence to return to the city centre as a result of the work we are doing with Liverpool BID Company and  the Chamber of Commerce, and for some independent businesses it will have been the difference between surviving or going under.”