Ferociously bad weather brought by Storm Deirdre battered parts of the UK on Saturday with snow, gales and bursts of freezing rain.
The treacherous conditions heaped further misery on retailers on what should have been a major pre-Christmas shopping day.
With retailers facing a make-or-break week of pre-Christmas trading after a warning from one of the industry’s key figures that a dire festive period will “smash to pieces” some of the high street’s biggest names, storm conditions were blamed for contributing to the slump in numbers. Footfall on UK high streetson Saturdaywas down year-on-year by 9.1% by 3pm, retail intelligence firm Springboard reported.
Springboard’s director Diane Wehrle said: “If people are presented with really terrible weather they then have the choice to shop online. That unfortunately offers them sometimes better alternatives than trailing around a town centre in freezing cold or rainy weather.”
Derry City and Strabane council in Northern Ireland said it had temporarily closed its Winterland market in Derry due to “exceptionally high winds and poor weather conditions”.
The Met Office issued seven amber and yellow warnings. It confirmed that freezing rain had been reported at Leeds Bradford airport.
Analysts say the high street is facing a combination of weak consumer demand, rising costs, tough competition from the internet, and uncertainty from Brexit.
Fashion retailer Superdry issued its second profit warning in two months, while womenswear chain Bonmarché said trading was worse than during the 2008 financial crisis, when the British economy slumped into the deepest recession since the 1920s.
John Lewis saw trading retreat last week after a stronger Black Friday performance.
“I think people will look back and say 2018 has been a year of distress,” said Richard Lim of the industry consultancy Retail Economics.
