Norwich Ranked One of England’s Top Five Christmas Hotspots
Norwich has been named one of England’s top five cities for festive experiences, according to new national analysis by MRI Software.
The city ranks fifth in the 2025 Christmas Hotspots Index, placing it alongside Cambridge, York, Northampton and Bristol at the top of the table.
The study assessed cities on the density of Christmas activities, online search demand for festive events, and year-on-year footfall growth across both high streets and shopping centres. Norwich performed strongly across all measures, securing top-ten positions in every category measured.
With Christmas activities concentrated across the city centre, rising footfall during the Golden Quarter of October – December and strong audience appetite for festive events, Norwich’s position in the national top five reinforces its reputation as a vibrant and competitive destination during the peak trading season.
For local businesses, the findings highlight continued demand for seasonal experiences and the strength of Norwich’s festive offer at a national level.
“Our Christmas Hotspots Index provides some great insight into how different cities are preparing for one of the peak trading periods in the retail calendar. We’re seeing that cities investing in festive events, attractions and experiences are reaping the benefits, with engaged shoppers, vibrant high streets and bustling shopping centres during the key trading period.”
| Rank | City | Total Score / 100 | Christmas Activities per km2 | Google Searches for Christmas Activities | Increase in High Street Footfall | Increase in Shopping Centre Footfall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cambridge | 75 | 134.15 | 358.72 | 1.61% | 3.5% |
| 2 | York | 69 | 12.58 | 823.95 | 13.02% | 2.9% |
| 3 | Northampton | 67 | 79.95 | 23.45 | 26.70% | 11.5% |
| 4 | Bristol | 66 | 31.09 | 198.93 | 4.77% | 2.6% |
| 5 | Norwich | 65 | 35.90 | 126.00 | 2.17% | 3.0% |
| 6 | Liverpool | 61 | 30.89 | 183.30 | 8.29% | -0.8% |
| 7 | Manchester | 60 | 33.45 | 553.57 | 1.92% | -1.3% |
| =8 | Derby | 56 | 60.26 | 45.35 | -3.11% | 12.0% |
| =8 | Birmingham | 56 | 19.49 | 101.67 | 3.12% | 0.7% |
| =8 | Oxford | 56 | 148.70 | 561.45 | -9.84% | -2.4% |
Methodology
The Christmas Hotspots Index is based on the following ranking factors:
- Number of Christmas activities in each city, sourced from Eventbrite, and then weighted by the area size of the city in km²
- Number of Google searches in each city for Christmas related activities, sourced from KeywordTool.io, and then weighted by the population of each city
- The annual increase in high street footfall in each city for October – December 2024 vs October – December 2023, sourced from MRI Software’s analytics
- The annual increase in shopping centre footfall in each city for October – December 2024 vs October – December 2023, sourced from MRI Software’s analytics
- Each city was then ranked based on their ranking position for each of the above metrics, with the best performing cities across all four categories receiving the highest overall score
