Thank you for your interest in this story

To continue reading this article, subscribe to the Stray Ferret for as little as £1 a week

Already a subscriber? Log in here.

Dec 2023

Last Updated: 20/12/2023

Business

First day of Christmas fayre was Harrogate's busiest for six months

by John Plummer

| 20 Dec, 2023

2023

The opening of this year’s Harrogate Christmas Fayre was the town’s busiest day for six months, Harrogate Business Improvement District said today.

New footfall data shows that on Friday, December 1 — the launch of the fayre — 126,522 people passed through the town centre.

The data, which is based on locations settings on mobile phones, also suggested the town centre has had a busier 2023 than 2022.

It showed 23,246,734 passed through Harrogate up to December 9 this year, compared to a total of 21,631,852 throughout 2022.

Harrogate BID is working with place monitoring platform HUQ to analyse data on the town’s footfall and dwell time over specified periods.

The BID will use the data, which covers 98% of the population, to develop strategies to encourage more people to visit the town centre. Town centre businesses voted in favour of continuing to pay a levy on their business rates this summer to fund the BID for another five years,

The data is believed to be more accurate than that used previously to measure footfall at Harrogate events because a person is only counted once if they re-enter the specified area.

Matthew Chapman, manager of the BID, 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 at targeted periods throughout the year.”

Ed Horner, Harrogate BID’s new PR and communications officer, will analyse the HUQ figures to inform future projects, campaigns and events.

Density data statistics allow the BID to track the movement of people in the BID area and create a map showing the most frequently visited sites.

Green indicates less busy areas, while red highlights hotspots.

Cambridge Street, where the traders and stalls were located, was among the fayre hotspots.

The data also allows the BID to track where visitors are coming from and how long they stay in the town centre.

Unexpectedly, according to the BID, visitors have spent the most time in the town centre on Sundays in 2023 so far, with an average of 2 hours and 50 minutes.

GALLERY: Harrogate Christmas Fayre gets underway

Call for lessons to be learned after Ripon mum dies from sepsis at Harrogate hospital

Thank you for your interest in this story

First day of Christmas fayre was Harrogate's busiest for six months

Read more: