In part two of a series of columns, Bid Huntingdon manager Paul Sweeney, talks about the many positives about the town centre.

Last week I spoke about vacant units and this time I address criticism that Huntingdon has become a ghost town.

People say 'no one comes to Huntingdon town centre anymore' but the data shows a great deal of people come every day.

The Hunts Post: Huntingdon compares well with other towns and cities in terms of footfall.Huntingdon compares well with other towns and cities in terms of footfall. (Image: Huntingdon First)

Footfall data (again through Springboard, the national data analysts) is showing a slow but steady increase, which, in fact, goes against the national story for high streets.

December 2023 saw more than 618,000 visitors across the month. With more than 157,000 alone in the six days leading up to Christmas.

This represents a very substantial uplift when compared to comparable data for 2022.

Figures for December show that Huntingdon was 4.8 per cent up year-on-year, which doesn’t sound a lot, but compare that to the data for the East which sits at 3.7 per cent up year-on- year, and 'High Streets' (even lower at 0.0 per cent and the UK as a whole (which includes all major cities) 3.3 per cent, it is significant.

As you can see, Huntingdon was (as with vacancy rates) up on the national trend. As a reflection, Huntingdon normally sits at around 110,000 – 120,000 in a given week. That’s a lot of people still finding life in Huntingdon.

 There are always people who have decided to not come into town and that’s absolutely fine.

Sometimes you won’t be able to always get what you want from the shops we have here but it’s always worth a look before you shop online, support local businesses. Town’s are changing, we need to change with them.