Bath City-Centre Footfall: Interpreting the Published Measures
Read Bath’s 2024 footfall comparisons, understand historical reporting windows and distinguish pedestrian counts from spending and mobile-phone data.
Published
Bath’s published city-centre footfall measure was 1% lower in 2024 than in 2023, according to Bath and North East Somerset Council’s 2024 Clean Air Zone monitoring report. The measure records pedestrian activity across counting locations. It cannot establish how many individual customers visited Bath or how much they spent.[1]
What the 2024 Comparisons Show
The council reports that annual footfall in 2023 was 2% below 2019, followed by the 1% annual decrease between 2023 and 2024. These are separate comparisons with different reference years. Keep the reference year attached whenever you repeat either figure.[1]
Within 2024, the report says monthly counts exceeded 2019 levels at key seasonal periods, including the start of the academic year and Christmas. That can sit alongside an annual fall against 2023. The monthly observations concern selected parts of the year and use 2019 as their benchmark.[1]
For a business reviewing September trading, the seasonal comparison is the closer starting point. The annual change answers a broader question about activity across the year. Neither figure establishes what happened to that business’s customer numbers, transactions or takings.[1][2]
Counting Locations Do Not Identify Individual Visitors
The council identifies the data as coming from Bath Business Improvement District, known as Bath BID, using Springboard footfall counters provided by MRI Software. Its collection list names Burton Street, House of Fraser on Milsom Street, a separate entry printed as “Milson Street”, Northgate Street, Sawclose and Southgate Street.[1]
Those are six location labels. Elsewhere in the same section, the report refers to counters in 10 locations. Bath BID’s methodology page, carrying a 13 May 2022 date, also describes 10 city-centre counters. These descriptions leave the relationship between the named locations and the counter total unresolved. They do not establish an unchanged network between 2022 and 2024.[1][2]
The council explicitly warns that the same individual may be counted at multiple locations. Read the combined measure as recorded passages across the monitored points. A claim about unique visitors would require a method for recognising and removing repeat appearances, which these footfall descriptions do not establish.[1]
That still leaves a useful trend measure. When comparing reports, ask whether they cover the same counting locations and hours. A larger total from broader coverage would need a different interpretation from a larger total recorded across an unchanged set of points.[1][2]
The Hours Included Can Change the Evening Picture
Bath BID’s historical examples show why the label “evening footfall” needs an accompanying time window. Its page compares individual hours and then examines broader evening periods. These are examples from its discussion of 2019 and 2022, rather than findings about 2024 trading.[2]
| Published Window | What the Window Includes |
|---|---|
| 01:00–01:59 | One hour after midnight |
| 13:00–13:59 | One afternoon hour |
| 18:00–02:59 | Early evening through to the following morning |
| 21:00–02:59 | Later evening through to the following morning |
In that historical discussion, Bath BID describes footfall between 21:00 and 02:59 as exceeding 2019 levels, while the earlier period between 18:00 and 20:59 was tracking 2019 rates. Extending the window back to 18:00 changed the comparison. The extra hours brought a different pattern of activity into the measure.[2]
Before applying an evening headline to staffing or opening-hour decisions, check the exact hours behind it. A result for the later window supplies limited information about demand before 21:00.[2]
Footfall, Spending and Mobile Data Answer Different Questions
The BID page describes separate products. Springboard supplies footfall reports. Movement Insights supplies reports on Visa spending across the city and demographic information derived from mobile-phone usage. Presenting these together in a dashboard does not make their units interchangeable.[2]
Pedestrian counts describe recorded movement. Visa data concerns spending captured by that product. Mobile-phone analysis concerns the users and categories represented in its methodology. A percentage change in one cannot be applied directly to another, and the footfall total provides no basis for calculating sales.[1][2]
Keep the Comparison Attached to the Number
For your next trading review, record the measure, counting geography, observation period, hours and comparison year beside each headline. Keep your own transactions and takings in separate columns. This preserves the distinction between activity around Bath’s monitored streets and results inside your business.[1][2]
Causation remains a further limit. The council says the pandemic’s effects make the Clean Air Zone’s impact on footfall too difficult to determine. Use the published trends to frame questions about your trading period, then test those questions against your own records.[1]
Sources and checks
These sources were used for this article. Availability, prices and service details can change after the stated check date.
- https://www.bathnes.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Clean%20Air%20Zone%20full%20report%202024.pdf
Checked 20 October 2026.
The council reports a 1% decrease in annual footfall between 2023 and 2024. The report says 2023 footfall was 2% below 2019. Selected seasonal monthly counts in 2024 exceeded 2019 levels. The footfall data comes from Bath BID and Springboard counters provided by MRI Software. The report names six collection-location labels and separately refers to counters in 10 locations. The same individual may be counted at multiple locations, limiting interpretation as unique visitors. The council considers the data useful for long-term trends. The council says the pandemic makes the Clean Air Zone’s effect on footfall too difficult to determine.
- Bath BID Data Insights Report - Bath Business Improvement District
Checked 20 October 2026.
The BID page carries a 13 May 2022 date and describes 10 city-centre footfall counters. Springboard footfall, Movement Insights Visa spending and mobile-phone demographic information are separate data products. The historical examples compare 01:00–01:59, 13:00–13:59, 18:00–02:59 and 21:00–02:59 windows. The BID describes later-evening footfall in its 2022 discussion as exceeding 2019 levels while earlier-evening activity tracked 2019 rates. Changing the hours included changes the scope and interpretation of an evening comparison. These historical method descriptions do not establish unchanged counter coverage in 2024. The distinction between the products supports keeping footfall, spending and mobile-derived measures separate in business comparisons.