In 2025, Harlequin Watford hit its highest annual footfall ever with 17.2 million visitors.
In a year when the wider market was down, we set out to drive footfall and sales and the centre moved forward, here’s how…
Harlequin Watford. Record Footfall. Real Momentum.
Harlequin is no small player. With over 1 million square feet of retail space and more than 130 brands, it’s Hertfordshire’s leading retail and leisure destination. But scale alone doesn’t guarantee growth. Our task was clear, build on 2024 momentum, strengthen the centre’s identity following the return to the Harlequin name from atria Watford, and drive footfall in a retail market facing decline.
Harlequin is no small player. With over 1 million square feet of retail space and more than 130 brands, it’s Hertfordshire’s leading retail and leisure destination. But scale alone doesn’t guarantee growth. Our task was clear, build on 2024 momentum, strengthen the centre’s identity following the return to the Harlequin name from atria Watford, and drive footfall in a retail market facing decline.
17.2m visitors in 2025 – the strongest year in the centre’s history
BWP was appointed as Harlequin’s integrated marketing agency, delivering a full-service remit across strategy, brand, creative, social, PR and media.
Key elements included:
- Brand reset: Reverting the centre’s name from atria Watford back to Harlequin, supported by a refreshed brand identity that felt confident, local and rooted in Watford’s heritage.
- Physical expression: Delivery of a centre-wide signage project to embed the refreshed brand consistently across the scheme and improve wayfinding and visual cohesion.
- Always-on integrated marketing: A joined-up approach across paid, owned and earned channels to rebuild familiarity, relevance and visit motivation.
- Loyalty programme launch (2025): Introduction of a customer loyalty platform to capture first-party data, encourage repeat visits and create a direct communications channel with shoppers.
While the UK market declined by -5.1%, Harlequin saw a December growth of +1.6%
The result? The highest annual footfall ever recorded at Harlequin with December telling an even stronger story. With 90,000 visitors on 20th December, this was the busiest day Harlequin had seen since 2019 – pre Covid!
Growth against the trend – market share gained and confidence reinforced.
Our results
17.2M
Visitors in 2025
+1.6%
December footfall growth vs Dec 2024
+90K
Visitors in one day.
20th Dec, busiest trading day since 2018