Monthly Footfall Overview: August 2026

August saw continued footfall growth on Victoria Street, while Broadmead remained broadly consistent with July.

Overall, August showed mixed footfall trends across Bristol’s key city centre locations. Victoria Street recorded a 2% increase in footfall compared with July and was 50% higher than August 2025, with international footfall rising by 70%. The Bristol Balloon Fiesta also contributed to increased city wide activity, with Saturday 8 August among the busiest days on Victoria Street and Broadmead. Broadmead saw a 3% decrease compared with July and was 4% lower than August 2025, while Saturdays continued to be the busiest days across both locations.

Victoria Street footfall is powered through Bristol BID’s investment in Micro Location Insights. An O2/Virgin Media sensor installed on Victoria Street provides valuable data that helps us understand footfall patterns and trends across the city.

We also capture data through two sensors in Broadmead, installed on Broadmead East and the corner of Broadmead West and Union Street. These sensors measure passing footfall by combining AI-powered algorithms with existing camera networks.

VICTORIA STREET

OVERALL TRENDS

Overall, there was a 2% increase in footfall from July and a 2% increase in unique visitor numbers, meaning on average each person visited the area with the same frequency in August as they did in July. The daily average visitor number was 12,573, slightly higher than 12,432 in July, and 50% higher than August 2025, when the daily average was 8,298.

Key trends included:

Peak footfall days: The busiest day for footfall was Saturday 8th August, followed by Friday 7th August
Key events: Bristol Balloon Fiesta took place from 7-9th August at Ashton Court, outside the BID area, and demonstrates the impact of large events on city wide footfall. Sunday 9th had higher footfall than average for Sundays in August, though not as high as Sunday 30th which was the bank holiday weekend.
Summer holidays: International footfall increased by 70% compared with July, coinciding with school summer holidays, which could explain the increase of international visits.

VISITOR DEMOGRAPHICS & BEHAVIOUR

Visitors were more likely to be younger than 64 compared with the national average.
45% of visitors were female, compared to 51% across the UK.
The most popular times to visit Victoria Street were commuting hours, between 8–9am and 5-6pm, and lunchtime, between 1-2pm. Saturday afternoons and evenings were also popular, from midday until 10pm.
The average dwell time was just under 31 minutes, rising to 34 minutes when only ‘workers’ are included.
Workers made up 12% of footfall in July compared to 10% in August, with ‘out of area visitors’ making up 73% in July and 74% in August.
Bank holiday Monday, 31st August, had only 69% of the average Monday footfall. The location of the Victoria Street sensor, between a dense area of office buildings and shows bank holidays have an impact on footfall.

SPENDING POWER & TRAVEL PATTERNS

Victoria Street attracted a higher proportion of visitors with ‘high’ or ‘very high’ spending power compared with the national average.
Average spending power was higher in August 2026 than in August 2025.
BS4 brought the highest number of visitors, followed by BS3.
66% of visitors came from Bristol postcode areas, up from 60% in July, 4% from Bath postcodes and 2% from Gloucester postcodes.
International footfall was 70% higher than in July, with the highest number of international visits made from Germany, and Spain the most frequent.

BROADMEAD

OVERALL TRENDS

The average daily footfall for Broadmead is divided between two sites: Broadmead East and 95 Broadmead.

In August, total footfall was 3% lower than in July and 4% lower than in August 2025. Broadmead East accounted for 74% of total footfall, while 95 Broadmead accounted for 26%.

Key trends included:

Saturday impact: Saturdays were the highest days for footfall across both sites, with Saturday 1st August the busiest, followed by Saturday 8th, coinciding with the Bristol Balloon Fiesta, and Saturday 15th August.
Bank Holiday: Similar to Victoria Street, the bank holiday Sunday 30th August was busier than the average Sundays, and the bank holiday Monday was quieter than the average Mondays.

VISITOR DEMOGRAPHICS & BEHAVIOUR

The most popular time to visit Broadmead was Saturdays between 2–3pm, with weekday lunchtimes between 1–2pm and after work between 5–6pm also seeing spikes.
However, the after-work spike was less pronounced in August than other months. This could be due to school holidays and parents taking time off being more likely to go to the shops in the daytime.

Our Footfall & Insights pages are updated weekly with the latest footfall data. Please refer to our Reports & Resources section for a snapshot overview of footfall in our Monthly Visitor Reports and an overview of spend behaviours in our Quarterly Spend Reports.

The expanded footfall data can be viewed through our online dashboard for more effective and informed decision making. Please get in touch if you would like more information.