At Congleton Nub News we like to celebrate our high street, but it is a rare occasion that we celebrate the doom and gloom.

But important figures have just been revealed regarding footfall in our town centre, and it does not make pretty reading.

Congleton saw a decrease of 13%, the second highest drop in footfall in Cheshire East.

The news was confirmed at a Cheshire East Council meeting earlier this week.

Congleton: Do you think footfall has decreased in our town over the last year? (Image - Alexander Greensmith / Congleton Nub News)

In a year where COVID restrictions, the Omicron wave and the cost of living crisis has been felt by the nation, Congleton town centre has seen a large decline in shoppers.

In our town's defence, just four Cheshire East towns in seeing more people on our high streets. 

Crewe, Alsager, Macclesfield and Nantwich saw increases, with Crewe having the highest increase in pedestrian traffic on our high street, with a 36% rise in footfall. 

Congleton's percentage drop was only eclipsed by Poynton, which saw a fall of 16%.

The full dataset. (Image - Cheshire East Council)

Congleton Town Council have been contacted for comment on their thoughts how to halt the decline, and turn it into a positive.

But the only way may indeed be up.

It is no secret that Congleton's high street has seen hefty investment in recent months, with some new openings such as Capital Walk, having opened too late to be included to influence the data on this survey.

There are also plans to fill vacant and large shops on our high street like the old British Heart Fountain store, which will hope to prevent another footfall reduction.

Filling in empty shops are a solution to footfall decline, but that is easier said than done, particuarly with current business rates. (Image - Alexander Greensmith / Congleton Nub News)

Or maybe it will take a bright idea from individuals to stop the drop.

In October 2020, a council grant of £20,000 was allocated for Congleton town centre businesses to pitch marketing initiatives to bolster footfall. A similar scheme may be employed to reverse Congleton's fortunes when it comes to footfall.

Cheshire East Council have also been contacted for comment.

Could free parking after certain hours (like this car park in Congleton) help bring footfall numbers back up? (Image - Alexander Greensmith / Macclesfield Nub News)

Cheshire East Council's Peter Skates, who is their Director of Growth and Enterprise, said the council had been monitoring the data in all nine service centres since lockdown. 

"It is clear that a lot of the towns have responded differently," said Mr Skates.

"Towns like Middlewich actually saw an increase in footfall during the restrictions, and we considered that was probably likely because there was less travel to Crewe and Northwich from that local centre.

"It is quite enlightening the amount of quality information you can get from this mobile data."

Despite Congleton's fall, footfall as a whole in Cheshire East went up, so it may be incorrect to attribute COVID as a blaming factor on our town's number. (Image - Alexander Greensmith / Congleton Nub News)

Congleton: Are you surprised at the figures? What would you do to increase footfall in the town?

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