New data shows Harrogate Christmas Fayre's launch was the single busiest day in town centre for six months

The footfall data, which allows the town’s pivotal business group to view the number of unique people observed within the BID area each day, shows that on Friday, December 1, the launch of this year’s Christmas Fayre, 126,522 people passed through the Harrogate BID area - making it the busiest day in the town centre over the last six months.

Harrogate BID says early indications suggest that, overall, this year’s Christmas attractions and special events in Harrogate have led to an increase in spend in some of the town’s popular retailers, from national chains to independent businesses, boosting profit margins at this crucial time of year.

But BID is keen to get the precise figures regularly as a guide to how the town centre is performing in order to maximise its efforts to support traders.

Supported by a levy from businesses in the town centre, it is working with data firm HUQ to analyse and present data on the town’s footfall, density, catchment and dwell time over specified periods.

The figures, which cover 98% of the population, will allow BID to develop strategies to deliver objectives in the Term 2 Business Plan, while working with Board directors, BID members and partners.

Matthew Chapman, BID Manager, said: “We are very excited to get our teeth stuck into HUQ, which is used in many towns and cities around the UK.

“The system allows us as the BID, along with partners, to look at high street trends and results to evidence even more return on investment from the projects we deliver.

“Understanding where people come to Harrogate from, as well as how long they spend here, will allow us to promote our town more strategically throughout the year.”

Looking back at the HUQ figures, the density data allows the BID team to track the movement of people in the BID area across Harrogate town centre, creating a map to show the most frequently visited sites.

For example, during the 17 days the Christmas Fayre was in the town centre, some of the hotspots were in Cambridge Street, where the traders and stalls were located.

Granular catchment allows the BID team to observe where Harrogate’s visitors are coming from.

Their home locations are organised at postcode district level, which is then used to create the visualisation on the map.

So far in 2023, postcodes visiting the town include areas from as far as Falkirk, Forres and Inverurie in Scotland, Weymouth and Worthing on the south coast and Tywyn in Wales.

The dwell time figures show how long visitors are spending in the BID area.

This is calculated using the average number of minutes people are spending in the town centre, and it allows the BID to see how time spent varies on different days across specified time periods.

Unexpectedly, visitors have spent the most time in the Harrogate BID area on a Sunday in 2023 so far, with an average of 2 hours and 50 minutes.

Ed Horner, Harrogate BID’s new PR and Communications Officer, will be working closely with the HUQ data to carry out research for future campaigns and events.

Information: https://harrogatebid.co.uk/