Festive Footfall Fuels Another Strong Year for Bury St Edmunds
Christmas shoppers in Bury St Edmunds have once again helped ensure the town enjoyed a busy end to the year.
Footfall in 2025, as calculated by the BID’s camera in Abbeygate Street, was just 0.2% less than last year. There were 4,607,125 activations of the camera and this slight decrease on 2024 compares favourably with market towns nationally and town centres in the East of England.
These figures were boosted during December, where every week, except the run up to Christmas Day, had more visitors to the town than in either of the previous two years. Plus, the numbers of international tourists during 2025 have boosted the town’s visiting shoppers. Over 100,000 visited from abroad during the year with the majority from the east coast of the USA.
Bury St Edmunds also continues to have very low vacant retail units at 5.2%, compared with the national average of 13%.
Just before Christmas, The Telegraph named Bury St Edmunds the fourth in its list of the best UK High Streets. It described the town as having “plenty of indie spirit” in relation to the numbers of independent businesses in the town centre.
Chief Executive of Our Bury St Edmunds BID, Mark Cordell said: “Footfall for 2025 was the same as 2024, which compares very favourably with the average for the UK and better than the average for East of England and all UK market towns. Bury St Edmunds also has the lowest number of vacant retail units that I have seen in 15 years.
“The national media would lead you to believe the High Street is in crisis but not here in Bury St Edmunds.
“It is true that businesses continue to face additional pressures and challenges, particularly with recent Government decisions which will again increase our businesses operational costs, but so far Bury St Edmunds continues to buck the national trend. We will continue to do all we can through the Our Bury St Edmund and Bury St Edmunds and Beyond tourism brands to ensure we encourage people to visit the town centre.”
The Our Bury St Edmunds footfall figures are calculated based on an entry point to the town on Abbeygate Street. They are compiled for the BID by MRI OnLocation. More information is available at www.ourburystedmunds.com.
