Tourism sluggish in the capital as weak dollar puts off Americans
Retail sales in central London were down on last year for the month of September, according to the London Retail Consortium.

The body, which runs the survey in collaboration with KPMG, found that like-for-like sales in the month were down 0.8 per cent year on year. Sales for the city were up 2.2 per cent for the period from July to September on a like-for-like basis.

London performed worse than the UK as a whole, which rose 2 per cent like-for-like during September. American tourist numbers were below last year's levels, caused in part by the weak US dollar.

A spokesman for the London Retail Consortium said: 'One month's weak figures do not justify any apocalyptic sentiment. After the recent strength in sales in London, retailers will be hoping that this was down to consumers taking a pause for breath before Christmas rather than the start of a long-term downturn.'

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