Economic activity and social change in the UK, real-time indicators: 4 June 2021

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• In the week to Monday 31 May 2021, the seven-day average estimate of UK seated diners was at 173% of its level in the same week of 2019, an increase of 41 percentage points from the previous week; this follows the reopening of indoor dining across all four home nations in May and continues the rebound in seated diner estimates observed since the first reopening of pubs and restaurants in England on 12 April 2021 (OpenTable). See daily data from OpenTable in their The state of the industry dashboard.

• The percentage of businesses currently trading has increased to 87% in late May (17 to 30 May 2021), the highest proportion since comparable estimates began in June 2020, with a further 3% of businesses intending to restart trading in the next two weeks (final results from Wave 31 of the Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICS)). See the accompanying dataset.

• In the week to 29 May 2021, UK retail footfall saw a weekly increase of 7% and was at 73% of its level in the equivalent week of 2019; footfall at retail parks remained strongest as a proportion of its level in the same week of 2019 when compared with other retail locations at 92%, whereas the equivalent figures for shopping centres and high streets were 68% and 67%, respectively (Springboard).

• In the week to 29 May 2021, retail footfall as a proportion of its level in the same week of 2019 was strongest in Northern Ireland, East of England, and the north and Yorkshire when compared with other UK regions, at 81%, 77% and 77%, respectively; Northern Ireland also saw the largest weekly increase in retail footfall of 16%, which coincides with the easing of lockdown restrictions there on 24 May 2021 (Springboard).

• In the week to 27 May 2021, the aggregate CHAPS-based indicator of credit and debit card purchases was at 95% of its February 2020 average, broadly similar to the previous week but up 31 percentage points since 7 January 2021; "work-related" purchases have seen the largest increase since 7 January of 50 percentage points (Bank of England CHAPS data). See the accompanying dataset.

• The volume of UK online job adverts on 28 May 2021 was at 127% of its February 2020 average level, up 8 percentage points from the previous week; this was driven by increases in the number of job adverts across all UK countries and English regions when compared with the previous week (Adzuna). See the accompanying dataset.

• In the week to 28 May 2021, excluding the "unknown" category, the volume of UK online job adverts had increased or remained broadly the same in all 28 industry categories; there were notable weekly increases in "manufacturing", "transport, logistics and warehouse" and "catering and hospitality", which rose by 21, 20 and 20 percentage points, respectively (Adzuna). See the accompanying dataset.

• On Monday 31 May 2021, the volume of all motor vehicle traffic was 86% of the volume seen on the first Monday of February 2020, a decrease of 11 percentage points from the previous week; Monday 31 May 2021 was the Spring Bank Holiday and a decrease in the volume of road traffic on this day is consistent with previous bank holidays (Department for Transport (DfT)). See the accompanying dataset.

• In the week ending 30 May 2021, average traffic camera activity for pedestrians and cyclists increased in both the North East and London by 4% and 8%, respectively (North East Traffic Cameras, Transport for London). See the accompanying dataset.

• There was an average of 396 daily ship visits in the week ending 30 May 2021, an increase of 8% from the previous week (365) but broadly similar to the equivalent week in 2019 (398) (exactEarth). See the accompanying dataset.

• There were 14,535 company incorporations in the week to 28 May 2021, a 7% decrease from the previous week (15,638), but 36% higher than the equivalent week in 2019 (10,656) (Companies House).​ See the accompanying dataset.

• There were 6,426 voluntary dissolution applications in the week to 28 May 2021, a 3% decrease from the previous week (6,634) but 29% higher than the equivalent week of 2019 (4,987) (Companies House). See the accompanying dataset.

• The overall price of items in the online food and drink basket decreased by 0.2% in the week ending 30 May 2021; the main downwards contribution came from "sugar, jam, syrup, chocolate and confectionery", of which chocolate experienced the largest price decrease in the latest week (online price collection). See the accompanying dataset.

Faster indicator

A faster indicator provides insights into economic activity using close-to-real-time big data, administrative data sources, rapid response surveys or Experimental Statistics, which represent useful economic and social concepts.

Company incorporations

Incorporations are when a company is added to the Companies House register of limited companies. This can also include where an existing business applies to become a limited company, where it was not one before.  

Voluntary dissolution applications

A voluntary dissolution application is when a company applies to begin dissolution proceedings. As such, they effectively chose to be removed from the Companies House register. For a company to be eligible to voluntarily dissolve, it should not have completed any trading activity for a period of three months.

UK coronavirus restrictions

A full overview of coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions for each of the four UK constituent countries can be found at:

• England

• Scotland

• Wales

• Northern Ireland

These restrictions should be considered when interpreting the data featured throughout this bulletin.

Information on the strengths and limitations of the indicators in this bulletin is available in the Coronavirus and the latest indicators of the UK economy and society methodology.