Footfall fell 1% between May and July compared with the same period last year, according to the new BRC/Springboard-ATCM Footfall and Vacancies Monitor.
The hardest-hit locations were Wales, where footfall fell 9.2%, the West Midlands and the east of England, while Greater London, the South West and Scotland were the only areas to record a rise, with footfall up 1.6% in the capital.

The overall decline was driven by a 1.9% fall in shoppers visiting out-of-town complexes, said the report. High street footfall fell 1.6% during the period, but showed the highest decline on average over the past 12 months, down 2.6%. During May to July, the number of people visiting shopping centres went up 0.6%.

July's footfall counts rose on the previous month for all types of shopping locations due to a combination of summer sales and the start of the school holidays, added the report, but declined year-on-year.

BRC director general Stephen Robertson commented: "Fewer people are shopping because households are facing high inflation, low wage growth and uncertainty about future job prospects. But that's slightly offset by hard-up customers spreading their spending over more but less costly shopping trips. For the quarter, the 1% drop in shopper numbers compared with this time last year is not great but is actually an improvement on the 1.3% fall over the 12 months before that."

The monitor showed "stark differences" between the UK's regions, he added. Areas where the public sector forms a large part of the economy are more likely to see customer spending hit by worries over job prospects and cuts.