{"id":254934,"date":"2025-07-11T01:27:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T01:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/254934\/"},"modified":"2025-07-11T01:27:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T01:27:13","slug":"wheres-the-plan-to-revive-our-high-streets-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/254934\/","title":{"rendered":"Where\u2019s the plan to revive our high streets? \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Retailers in Northern Ireland are reeling from another month of dismal footfall figures.<\/p>\n

And amid concerns the government is dragging its feet on implementing a plan to reinvigorate the high street, there is fresh concern that new complex food labelling requirements will put a further burden on shopkeepers.<\/p>\n

Figures from the NI Retail Consortium and Sensormatic reveal that in the five weeks from June 1 to July 5, footfall in the north decreased by 5.2% year on year (nearly three times the UK rate of 1.8%). In Belfast city, the decline was 5.3%, while in shopping centres their was a 6% drop.<\/p>\n

NIRC director Neil Johnston said is it \u201cconcerning\u201d that shopper numbers are continuing to fall on a monthly basis. <\/p>\n

\"Where’s<\/a>\"Pensions<\/a><\/p>\n

And he has blasted the government, which entered office a year ago and made much of its intention to revive the high street. <\/p>\n

\"TheNI Retail Consortium director Neil Johnston <\/p>\n

He said: \u201cTo date we have seen very little to make that desire a reality. Indeed, the impact of the national insurance hikes introduced in April this year clearly is still having a negative impact on retailers and the wider economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn London the government is at least holding out the prospect of business rates reform to help the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut in Northern Ireland retailing carries a heavy burden in terms of rates while other sectors receive considerable relief. There is room for Stormont to do more to help.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cRetailers in Northern Ireland are also facing the continuing burdens of the Windsor Framework. The requirements of the framework in the form of \u2018Not for EU\u2019 labelling enter the third, most complex phase, in July. This is a significant challenge for retailers.<\/p>\n

\u201cRetailers have to date ensured that the bureaucracy of the Framework has not impacted on the broad range of choice and value for money available to consumers in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe continue to look to the government to ensure that the internal market for retail products in the UK is protected. With UK government help and a proportionate approach by the EU we hope to be able to continue to serve the consumers of Northern Ireland in the way we have in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andy Sumpter, retail consultant for Sensormatic Solutions, said: \u201cA year on from the general election, with footfall still in the red, it appears that consumer confidence has yet to find its feet. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat said, the rate of decline at a UK level is easing, and with summer now in full swing, retailers have an opportunity to turn seasonal footfall into sustained momentum – especially those who can deliver value, experience, and convenience in equal measure.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Retailers in Northern Ireland are reeling from another month of dismal footfall figures. And amid concerns the government…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":254935,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[2000,6330,1144,363,16,15,23146],"class_list":{"0":"post-254934","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-footfall","10":"tag-northern-ireland","11":"tag-retail","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-windsor-framework"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114832005976484069","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254934\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}