London retail sales rise
Apr 22 2009
New figures show London's retail sales were stronger than the national average in March.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) reveals that like-for-like retail sales in central London in March were 5.1 per cent higher than last year, compared to the 1.2 per cent fall which was seen across the whole UK.
Reasons behind the increase are suggested to be warmer weather bringing more shoppers onto the high street and the weak pound boosting overseas visitors, especially from western Europe.
Stephen Robertson, director general of the BRC, comments: 'London retailers outperformed their UK counterparts by a wide margin. Although March didn’t include Easter this year, it did benefit from warm sunny weather compared with last year’s snow and rain.'
The group also reports that like-for-like sales in March were higher in Scotland, when compared with last year.
In addition, the BRC notes that March 2008 saw a 1.6 per cent increase in the country's retail sales.
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