Partner Article

Newcastle city centre is top of the class

A MONTH after an initiative to bring Newcastle city centre “Alive after Five” was launched, statistics show that Newcastle has been significantly outperforming other major UK cities in footfall figures.

Over the past four weeks, Newcastle’s footfall figures have been up by 14.66% compared to the same 4 week period in 2009.

The footfall increase has accounted for an additional 180,681 visitors to Newcastle city centre against the same period last year.

During launch week, which ran from Monday 25 October to 1 November, Newcastle footfall was up 36.3% compared to the previous week, and exceeded the national average of 19.8% by 16.5%.

Stephen Patterson, Commercial Manager, NE1 Ltd said: “In the current economic climate it is excellent to see Newcastle performing so well.

“We’re now working hard to build on this success and to ensure that we can maintain the Alive after Five momentum even during the long, tough winter months ahead.”

The benefit of these increased visitor numbers has been felt not just by retailers but also by businesses that would traditionally be open between 5 – 8 pm.

Assistant Manager, Rob Keen of Nandos, said: “Later opening hours have been absolutely brilliant for us.

“Sales have been so good in the early evening that we have had to employ more staff to cope with demand.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .