Bath’s evening economy booming

5 May 2022

New data from Springboard, from the Bath Business Improvement District (BID) shows that the city’s evening economy has recovered to more than 2019 levels.

The figures, obtained by the local Liberal Democrats, show that the footfall in the city centre returned to over a million per week after restrictions were lifted last year. After a brief decline in numbers at the end of 2021, likely as a result of the Omicron variant of coronavirus, the city’s evening economy recovered to a higher level than pre-pandemic in 2019.

The data reveals that the general footfall in the city is slightly behind pre-pandemic 2019 levels, but this has recovered considerably compared to 2021 and 2020. The data shows that in the week beginning the 28th March showed a count of 1.05 million visitors, 94% of 2019 levels in the same week.

Bath MP Wera Hobhouse commended the data, and praised the Council, Bath BID and Visit Bath for attracting people back to the city:

“Bath is an amazing place to live and visit and its great to see the night time economy booming after the pandemic. It is a testament to the hard work of the Council, Visit Bath and Bath BID who have done a fantastic job in welcoming visitors back to our city.

"I know local shops and restaurants will be thrilled to see these numbers. An impressive program of events this summer, including the Bath Festival and Great Bath Feast, will only add to this.”

Cllr Richard Samuel, Cabinet Member for Economic D****evelopment commented:

“It’s great to see the night time economy recovering and the daytime footfall improving after a difficult few years with the pandemic seriously affecting visitor numbers.

"The long Easter weekend saw visitor numbers bounce back at the Roman Baths, with the Council reporting the busiest four days since before the pandemic.

"I'm proud that we have been able to attract visitors back to Bath and I'm confident that this will improve even further during the summer."