Capital pushes ahead despite UK high street gloom
London sales outperformed UK sales for the third consecutive month, following four months of substantially larger declines than the rest of the UK in the aftermath of the July bombings.

Like-for-like sales in central London during January were 6.5 per cent higher than in January last year, when sales rose only 0.1 per cent, said the London Retail Consortium. The three-month rate of growth improved to a 4.8 per cent increase from a 1.9 per cent decline in December.

Footfall strengthened further as clearance sales and promotions continued to attract shoppers. Sales and discounts benefited clothing, accessories and men's shoes, but homewares continued to struggle.

'The results show the largest gain since March 2004. However, January's figures are against a weak comparative of 0.1 per cent from January 2005. Next month's results should give us a better view of the underlying trends,' cautioned LRC director Kevin Hawkins.

'Middle Eastern and Russian tourists were big spenders, which benefited luxury retailers in particular,' said British Retail Consortium senior analyst Joscelyne Hynard. 'US and Japanese visitors were still not back up to pre-July 2005 levels, and weaker than a year ago.'

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