More Troubles for Rhuthun

Well done to Denbighshire for publishing town centre footfall figures. Denbighshire uses those figures to say, 

'Overall, the figures indicated a strong increase in footfall across Denbighshire town and city centres between 2021 and 2022'. 

It's actually difficult to check the veracity of this statement, because the figures for individual towns are quoted for 2020 and 2022, not 2021. 2020 was a bit of a washout, of course, because of coronavirus closures. Footfall collapsed. It didn't much matter the decline in town centre footfall, because for much of the time there was nothing to visit. Well, next to nothing. And, anyway, we were told to stay at home.

So, in order to try to interpret matters, we've had to go back to our own historic records. The problem for Rhuthun/Ruthin is that there was little data for 2017, because someone at the council removed the post upon which the footfall counter was strapped. We've had to make estimates. 

Comparing the two years 2016 and 2022, footfall in Rhuthun is now only two thirds of its 2016 total. And that was after a successful visitor summer in 2022. We'd wager that figures in 2023 are significantly down: visitors have all but evaporated in favour of a return to the Costa del Sol etc. etc. And that's without the cost of living crisis. 

To put this in context, comparing 2016 and 2022, Dinbych has seen a similar reduction in footfall. Rhyl is worse by a little. Prestatyn and Corwen are worse still.

And, as this picture indicates, the decline in footfall is universal. It was taken at the once vaunted Eagles Meadow in Wrecsam during a dry August 2023 day at 11.30 in the morning. Notice how empty it is.