With post-Christmas sales well underway, Cardiff city centre is set for a busy week as it welcomes in the New Year, with seasonal sales, a strong hospitality offering and festive experiences combining to keep the Welsh capital lively until January. It’s part of a UK-wide trend; footfall data from retail tech experts MRI Software showed strong performance for UK retail destinations (including Cardiff city centre) on Boxing Day with footfall up +4.4% year on year across the board; the strongest increase seen in over 10 years.
The boost in activity was driven by a later peak in visits across all UK retail destinations from 5pm – 11pm – suggesting that leisure and hospitality establishments are also benefiting from the annual uplift.
In the Welsh capital, a run of dry, bright winter weather continues to encourage visitors to the city centre to swap gifts, shop sales, spend vouchers and make a day of it – with big brand shopping, boutique historic arcades, and cosy food and drink options all within a short walk of each other.
Carolyn Brownell, Executive Director at FOR Cardiff, the Business Improvement District (BID) of Cardiff city centre, said: “The ‘twixmas’ period is when people want something easy and uplifting without having to make complicated plans – for this, Cardiff city centre is perfect.
With a spell of bright, dry weather forecast across this week, we’re seeing people out enjoying the very best of it; shopping the sales whilst also stopping for food and drink – and taking in the lights and festive displays before they finish in early January.”
As part of FOR Cardiff’s A Very Cardiff Christmas campaign, the city’s festive light projections at Cardiff Market and Cardiff Central Train Station (now with a refreshed post-Christmas design) continue to run until 5th January, giving visitors another reason to head into town for an after-dark stroll and a final hit of Christmas sparkle.