Exeter tops table for economic recovery

Plymouth is also above pre-pandemic levels

Exeter is bouncing back from the pandemic better than any other city or large town in the country. 

Influential think tank the Centre for Cities places Exeter top in its latest 'recovery tracker' which shows how quickly high streets are returning to pre-pandemic levels of activity. 

Exeter's footfall index is now 120 - meaning the city is 20 per cent up on previous levels.

Devon's only other city, Plymouth, is fourth in the table, scoring 115.

London is the least successful city in returning to normal, with a rating of just 59.

In terms of money being spent, Exeter also does well - sixth in the table with a score of 154.

The results are for the last week of November. The tracker uses anonymised mobile phone data and offline credit card data spend.

Overall, the Centre for Cities rates Exeter's economy as being 'moderately strong.' The data shows that the proportion of spending by people coming into Exeter from outside the city has increased from 67 to 74 per cent.

Plymouth's economy is also 'moderately strong' - but a only a third of footfall (31 per cent) in the city is of people from Plymouth, which has hardly changed through the pandemic.

Exeter is recovering well (chart courtesy: Centre for Cities)