Retail footfall across the country has plummetted since the government made the decision to close all non-essential stores on March 23 and will have a deleterious effect on trading over the long weekend.

Footfall across retail destinations dropped 75.1% in the week beginning March 22 and by 81.4% last week, which Springboard said indicated the government’s lockdown was working.

However, the warmer weather over the weekend bought an “alarming” uplift with footfall up 9.5% on Saturday and 21.3% on Sunday as consumers “appeared to defy social distancing measures in favour of enjoying the warmest weekend of the year”.