Chester bucked the national trend when it came to attracting visitors last month, despite poor weather.

Despite April showers, visitor numbers went up by almost two per cent compared to April 2017.

Data from independent retail analyst Springboard, on behalf of CH1ChesterBID, showed high street footfall across the UK was down overall by four per cent.

More than 1.6 million visitors headed into Chester city centre throughout the month despite there being a total of 16 rainy days, in stark contrast to 2017, when Chester had just one noticeably rainy day.

Events such as the Chester Chilli Festival returned and helped draw an additional 2,100 people on Northgate Street compared to the same Saturday in 2017.

Other activities including Easter family-film screenings attracted more than 1,000 people throughout the month, and hundreds of families took part in the Easter Eggsplorer Citywide Egg Hunt trail.

Emily Ghazarian, events manager at CH1ChesterBID, said: “Despite some really wet weather in April, we're really pleased to see an increase in city centre visitors throughout the month compared to the figures from 2017.

"We're under no illusions that it's a tough time for the high street with some well-established brands closing down and some of our well-known local businesses doing the same in recent months.

"Online shopping continues to rise in popularity and that’s something we’re having to contend with along with a challenging economic climate.

“But along with our city centre retailers, we're doing everything we can to rise to the challenge and entice shoppers into Chester to experience something that you just can't get from a laptop or a computer.

"We’re working hard to hopefully build on the success we had throughout April.”

For more information about CH1ChesterBID or events and activities in Chester city centre, visit www.experiencechester.co.uk.