The warm weather and Royal wedding celebrations helped drive a 3.9% year-on-year rise in UK retail sales volumes in May.

The Office for National Statistics figures represent a 13-month high. Sales volumes were up 1.3% on April.

Sales value jumped 6.3% year on year and 1.6% against April’s figures.

Online retail sales surged 16.2%, and ecommerce represented 5.8% of food sales, 17.4% of department store sales and 17.6% of clothing sales.

The sales rise comes as sharp relief in what has been a tough period for retail. Poundworld plunged into administration earlier this week and House of Fraser revealed last week that it plans to close more than half of its store estate.

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