There is no doubt that this month’s Essential Trends contains some interesting and contrasting figures. March saw a decrease of over 4% in our city centre footfall when compared to the same period last year and April saw a decrease of over 3%.

A larger increase in the Old Town and other areas contributed to a very welcome footfall increase for the whole city of 5.3% in April.

Sales figures followed this trend with a welcome near 3% increase in March, outperforming both the rest of Scotland and the UK. Hospitality sales showed a significant 12.6% uplift – although these figures are of course very encouraging they must take into account the lost trading days in March 2018 due to the adverse weather. As we head into the late spring and early summer trading period we would anticipate an increasingly busier city centre.

Roddy Smith, CEO Essential Edinburgh