June 2025: Five months of growth, one month of pause
The latest BID Barometer highlights a strong start to 2025 for Sheffield city centre, with five consecutive months of year-on-year growth in visitor spending:
- +3.1% in January
- +0.6% in February
- +3.4% in March
- +1.9% in April
- +4.3% in May
Spending rose from £16.8 million in January to £21.8 million in May, a 30% increase over five months. This sustained growth reflects resilient consumer confidence and economic stability in the city centre, outperforming both regional and national benchmarks throughout the period. However, June saw an 8.5% year-on-year decline, in line with a broader national trend. This drop is likely due to a combination of factors:
- Fewer Saturdays in June 2025 (four vs. five in 2024), coinciding with the absence of a key trading day during the half-term weekend.
- Hot weather, which may have drawn consumers away from the city centre to outdoor and coastal destinations.
Despite this seasonal dip, the overall trajectory for the first half of 2025 remains positive.
Diane Jarvis, Head of Business Operations, Sheffield BID
“The Centre for Cities’ Checking Out report (July 2025) highlights key challenges for Sheffield city centre, including high vacancy rates, a smaller catchment area, and competition from Meadowhall. However, our BID Barometer tells a different story - one of resilience and growth.
In 2024, Sheffield city centre outperformed national benchmarks in ten out of twelve months, with consistent increases in sales, transactions, customer numbers, average transaction value, and revenue per customer. This positive momentum has continued into 2025.
The Food & Drink sector, which contributes up to 40% of total sales, reflects national trends that show vibrant high streets are driven by hospitality. This has helped Sheffield remain resilient against Meadowhall’s retail-centric offer.
Despite a smaller catchment, 61.5–69.4% of sales typically come from local residents, supported by a diverse demographic that includes urban and lower-income communities. Average increases in transaction values and revenue per customer have consistently outpaced regional comparators since January 2024.
The first half of 2025 has shown encouraging signs, with steady growth in visitor spending and strong performance relative to national trends. While June saw a seasonal dip, the overall trajectory reinforces Sheffield’s appeal and economic strength.
We remain confident in the vitality of our city centre and the continued success of our retail and hospitality sectors, which are essential to a thriving city centre ecosystem for all of us."
A full library of reports can be found on our web page here:
