Centre:mk exceeds footfall benchmarks for a decade following successful 2024
Centre:mk has exceeded footfall benchmarks every year since 2014 after reporting a positive start to 2025 and a successful 2024 at the Milton Keynes shopping centre.
The first week of 2025 saw footfall increase by 20% year-on-year at the centre. This was ahead of high street and shopping centre benchmarks by 10.8 percentage points and 11.3 percentage points respectively.
This comes after the scheme welcomed 21.4 million visitors last year, a 1.5% year-on-year increase, 2.9 percentage points ahead of the UK benchmark. The destination also welcomed over 6 million guests in the fourth quarter, with December 21st surpassing Black Friday as the busiest day of the year.
Over the course of the year, Centre:mk welcomed a number of national and international retailers including SpaceNK, Mint Velvet, Castore, Goldsmiths, and Office. The destination also saw investment from new and existing food and beverage brands, including Bill’s, Chaiiwala, Cornish Bakery, and Starbucks.
Kevin Duffy, Centre:mk’s centre director, said: “From our impressive footfall figures to our consistent footfall-to-spend conversion rate of over 95%, Centre:mk’s ability to continually outperform UK benchmarks for the last decade is testament to our reputation as the prime, regional destination. Building on our successes of 2024, we’ll continue to apply our agile leasing strategy and active management style to create exciting opportunities for the right brands, ensuring our occupiers can capitalise on one of the largest and most affluent catchments in the UK.”
“Set to be yet another bumper year for community engagement and footfall drivers at Centre:mk, 2025 will see the city’s most popular events return to the destination, including Fashion Weekend, Handmade and Vintage Spring Extravaganza and The MK Job Show. Headline sponsors of the Milton Keynes International Festival, Centre:mk will join the city-wide celebration, playing host to a range of activities within the destination.”