Figures on footfall in Rhuthun/Ruthin and across Denbighshire show the extent to which the internet has taken root. Fewer of us are visiting our high streets. It's easy to point the finger in all sorts of directions for this but ultimately we only have ourselves to blame. This can only result in one thing: the eventual extinction of the high street (as we know it).
Comparing Denbighshire's quarter three in 2015 with quarter two of 2018 and Rhuthun has seen a 20 per cent drop in town centre footfall. That's about average across Denbighshire. Rhyl and especially Prestatyn (given its new shopping park) were worse... yet Dinbych faired better—the drop proportionately less.
If you compare 2015/16 with 2016/17 and 2017/18, you can see the year-on-year slide. Only Llanelwy/St Asaph has managed to increase footfall—attributed to the large school rebuilding programme which sent workers into town after food and refreshment (which was a temporary aberration). In any case, in absolute terms, Llanelwy's footfall is small in the extreme.
In November 2018, footfall across the UK was said to be down three per cent compared to November 2017—that's three per cent in one single month.
Rhuthun Counter Problems
The footfall counter on St Peter's Square was installed in July 2015. But there were problems. It was inadvertently removed in April 2017—for nearly five months. That makes comparison with other towns difficult and the figures used above have Rhuthun estimates for the April to August 2017 period pencilled in.
What this means is that it's difficult to compare Rhuthun's footfall season-on-season or year-on-year but that doesn't mean it's impossible. So, it's possible to compare seven months in 2016 with 2017. This misses the late spring and the summer period but we do know over seven months of Jan-Mar and Sept-Dec that footfall fell by 14.8 per cent. The third week of December 2017 was very wintry and it's no surprise that in comparison with December 2016 footfall fell by 21 per cent.
Over the summery months of July, August & September, footfall between 2015 and 2016 fell by just one per cent.
Comparing January to March 2016 with the same period in 2018 and footfall fell by 16.6 per cent.
There are no current figures available beyond June 2018.
Footfall Q3 2015 to Q2 2018. 2015 = 100
Comparing Denbighshire's quarter three in 2015 with quarter two of 2018 and Rhuthun has seen a 20 per cent drop in town centre footfall. That's about average across Denbighshire. Rhyl and especially Prestatyn (given its new shopping park) were worse... yet Dinbych faired better—the drop proportionately less.
Footfall 2015-16 to 2017/18
If you compare 2015/16 with 2016/17 and 2017/18, you can see the year-on-year slide. Only Llanelwy/St Asaph has managed to increase footfall—attributed to the large school rebuilding programme which sent workers into town after food and refreshment (which was a temporary aberration). In any case, in absolute terms, Llanelwy's footfall is small in the extreme.
In November 2018, footfall across the UK was said to be down three per cent compared to November 2017—that's three per cent in one single month.
Rhuthun Counter Problems
The footfall counter on St Peter's Square was installed in July 2015. But there were problems. It was inadvertently removed in April 2017—for nearly five months. That makes comparison with other towns difficult and the figures used above have Rhuthun estimates for the April to August 2017 period pencilled in.
What this means is that it's difficult to compare Rhuthun's footfall season-on-season or year-on-year but that doesn't mean it's impossible. So, it's possible to compare seven months in 2016 with 2017. This misses the late spring and the summer period but we do know over seven months of Jan-Mar and Sept-Dec that footfall fell by 14.8 per cent. The third week of December 2017 was very wintry and it's no surprise that in comparison with December 2016 footfall fell by 21 per cent.
Over the summery months of July, August & September, footfall between 2015 and 2016 fell by just one per cent.
Comparing January to March 2016 with the same period in 2018 and footfall fell by 16.6 per cent.
There are no current figures available beyond June 2018.