The footfall that stopped growing - and where the government drew its line

This week's Weekly Briefing is attached, and it comes in two parts - one for the numbers, one for the news - each ending in a question I think is worth considering.

In The Numbers, I look at new BT Active footfall data: up just 0.9% over the year, but stalling since February, with four of the last five months down. If footfall has flatlined while sales rise, growth is coming from price, not meals - and that doesn't last. The winners reach the customer first, by booking, app or delivery. The question for suppliers: how much of your volume forecast still assumes footfall that stopped growing in February?

In My Insight, I turn to the new Prime Minister's 20% business-rates cut for pubs, social clubs and live music venues - and the curious boundary it draws. Hotels, restaurants and cafés are left out, and café-bars don't yet know where they stand. The line runs between drinking and culture on one side and eating and commerce on the other - a distinction the market, through what I call Food Spectrum Convergence, stopped respecting years ago.

I hope you'll read both in full. Read it here