London sales pick up again

Sales in the capital are on the up for the first time since the July terrorist attacks, according to the London Retail Consortium, which unveiled its November sales figures.

The retail body reported a 2.1 per cent like-for-like increase in retail sales in central London, against 1.4 per cent last year.

It is the first increase since before the July bombings. The three-month growth trend rate reflected a decrease of 1.2 per cent, an improvement from the 5.1 per cent decline in October.

Cold weather turned shoppers' minds to winter clothing and Christmas shopping. Numerous promotions and special Sales helped drive customer traffic. Clothing and footwear did well, but elsewhere trade was often driven by discounts. Footfall was slightly better than in the past few months, but remained down on a year ago.