Monthly Footfall Overview: May 2026

Overall, May showed positive footfall trends across Bristol’s key city centre locations. Victoria Street recorded strong growth compared to April, with significant increases in both footfall and international visitors, while Broadmead also saw an uplift, supported by half-term activity and strong weekend performance. Footfall on Park Street remained difficult to assess accurately due to ongoing sensor upgrades, although visitor behaviour and demographics remained broadly consistent with previous months. Saturdays continued to be the busiest days across most locations, with lunchtime, after-work and weekend afternoon periods driving the highest levels of activity.

Following our investment in Micro Location insights via O2/Virgin Media, two sensors have been installed on Victoria Street and Park Street, allowing us to better understand footfall 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.

PARK STREET*

*There is an ongoing issue with the Park Street sensor due to upgrades being carried out on the network. This has meant not all footfall is being recorded.

OVERALL TRENDS

Visitor patterns remained focused around weekend afternoons and weekday after work periods, while average dwell time increased slightly to just over 24.5 minutes. Out-of-area visitors accounted for 71% of footfall, consistent with April, and visitors continued to demonstrate relatively high spending power compared to the UK average. The majority of visitors came from Bristol postcode areas, particularly BS8 and BS6, with Spain remaining the leading source of international visits. Due to ongoing sensor issues, some visitor frequency data should be treated with caution.

Key trends included:

• Weekend impact: The busiest day for footfall were Saturdays followed by Sundays,  showing the popularity of weekends on Park Street.

SPENDING POWER & TRAVEL PATTERNS

• Compared to the UK average, Park Street visitors had a ‘high’ or ‘very high’ spend power. 
• When comparing the spending power of different categories of visitor, ‘residents’ had the highest average, followed by ‘visitors’ and then ‘workers’.   
• 79% of visitors made 1 visit, 20% made 2-5 visits, 1% made 6-10 visits, and no one was recorded as visiting over 11 times, although this could be incorrect due to the sensor issues.
• The BS8 postcode brought the highest number of visitors to Park Street, followed by BS6.
• 73% of visitors came from the Bristol area, up from 70% in April. 3% came from Bath and 2% from Gloucester postcodes.

VICTORIA STREET

OVERALL TRENDS

Overall, there was a 26% increase in footfall from April and the same increase in unique visitor numbers, meaning on average each person visited the area with a similar frequency. The daily average visitor number was 11,338 compared to 9,315 in April. Additionally, there was an 84% increase from May 2025, which was 6,178.

Key trends included: 

• Peak footfall days: The busiest days for footfall in May were Friday 29th and Saturday 30th May, followed by Wednesday 6th May.
• Weekday impact: Wednesdays had the highest footfall across the week, with Sundays the lowest.

SPENDING POWER & TRAVEL PATTERNS

• Compared to the national average, Victoria Street attracted a larger proportion of visitors with ‘high’ or ‘very high’ spend power. 
• Compared to May 2025, a much smaller proportion of visitors to Victoria Street has a ‘very low’ spending power.  
• ‘Visitors’ had the highest average, followed by ‘residents’ and then ‘workers’.  
• 61% of visitors made 1 visit, 32% made 2-5 visits, 5% made 6-10 visits, and 2% made 11+ visits.
• The BS4 postcode brought the highest number of visitors, followed by BS3.
• 59% of visitors to Victoria Street came from the Bristol area, 5% came from Bath postcodes and 3% from Gloucester postcodes. 
• Footfall from international visits was 27% higher than in April. The largest number of international visits were made from Spain. 

BROADMEAD

OVERALL TRENDS*

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

In May, the total footfall was 4% higher than in April. Broadmead East accounted for 74% of the total footfall and 95 Broadmead accounted for 26%. Across both sites, footfall was 3% lower than in May 2025.

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.