July’s heatwaves kept UK shoppers away from high street
UK high streets saw a marked drop in shopper numbers in July as heatwave conditions, with temperatures reaching the mid-30s Celsius in some areas, prompted many people to shop online instead. This continues a trend of declining footfall through the summer and highlights how extreme weather, alongside climate change more broadly, is reshaping consumer behaviour and creating uneven fortunes across the retail sector, with physical stores particularly exposed.
According to research from Sensormatic for the British Retail Consortium, high street visits fell 3.8% year-on-year in July, following a 6.2% drop in June, while shopping centre footfall also declined, though retail parks returned to growth. London was hit hardest with a 5.3% fall in shoppers, compared with 3% across England overall, while Scotland and Northern Ireland actually saw increases of 2.7% and 2.5% respectively, where the heat was less intense. BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson called for reform of business rates to support retailers investing in cooling measures, while separately Next upgraded its profit guidance for the third time this year, crediting strong online sales despite weaker in-store trading during the heat.
- UK high street footfall fell 3.8% in July amid heatwave conditions
- London worst affected with a 5.3% drop in shoppers
- Retailer Next raised profit guidance, boosted by online sales
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
The July heatwave provides measurable evidence—footfall drops up to 5.3% in London—that extreme weather already disrupts high street retail, and intensifying climate change will make such disruptions increasingly frequent and severe. Physical retailers face real competitive disadvantages against climate-controlled online shopping during harsh conditions, creating genuine business costs for climate adaptation. Business rates reform acknowledges this new reality and supports retailers' investments in cooling and resilience, ensuring they can maintain viability as climate impacts become routine rather than exceptional.
The case against
Whilst July's weather temporarily affected footfall, framing this primarily as a climate problem risks obscuring the much larger structural decline in UK high streets, which has persisted for over a decade through normal weather. Online shopping's growth reflects fundamental and stable consumer preferences for convenience and choice, not temporary discomfort avoidance. Business rates reform cannot address this deeper shift; the core challenge is retailers' adaptation to permanently changed consumer behaviour, which requires fundamental strategic rethinking beyond measures to cope with episodic weather events.