Capital suffers from January Sale fall-out and bad weather
Sales in London dipped in February compared with the same month a year before. According to the latest figures from the London Retail Consortium (LRC) and KPMG, like-for-like sales dropped by 0.4 per cent, compared with February last year, when sales were recovering strongly from a decline in 2003.

This year, it appears that any gains in sales growth retailers in the Capital made through January Sales have been stripped away by the poor trading performance in February.

The LRC said that the Capital's performance was broadly similar with the UK as a whole, but London lost more ground in December and gained less in January than the rest of the UK.

LRC director Kevin Hawkins said: 'Whilst January Sales brought some comfort to London stores, trade fell back once the heavy discounting ended. Footfall levels failed to pick up through the month and were not helped by the wet and cold weather. Even Valentines Day didn't give some retailers the boost they hoped for.'

Topics