THE harsh winter had a dramatic effect on city-centre trade with the number of shoppers down nearly ten per cent in York’s main shopping street.

Figures released by City of York Council showed that during January, the number of people shopping in Coney Street dropped by 9.1 per cent, from 916,877 in 2009 to 840,067 this year. The drop coincided with the heavy snow which blanketed the country during January.

But even when the snow melted, the street continued to face a shortfall of shoppers. In February the number was down just half a per cent, from 910,574 to 906,072. This figure increased to 4.1 per cent in March, but even with a footfall of 951, 872 it was still well down on 2009’s figure of 990,465 for the same period.

Susie Cawood, head of North Yorkshire and York Chamber of Commerce, said: “We had all those days when York was deserted which would certainly have brought down the average. I think we’re looking forward to an excellent summer in York. I don’t think it’s a trend. Our members are certainly a lot more positive than they were 12 months ago about the future, and in York I think we’re much better placed than many other towns and cities to fight the economic downturn. I think the figures are very small and can purely be put down to the weather.”

A spokeswoman for City of York Council said the statistics were provided by Springboard, a company that uses a fixed camera covering a given area of the street to electronically record the number of people who pass beneath it.

Figures for Parliament Street show in January, February and March respectively the footfall figures were 534,711, 556,798 and 422,637.

There was no comparative data for 2009 as the footfall counter installed above the street is new.