Late sales surge for West End stores

Retail sales in London's West End smashed through the £100 million barrier in the week to New Year's Eve, as shops benefited from a late surge of bargain hunters.

Hordes of tourists from Europe and China helped the capital's shops post a rise in underlying sales of up to 3% over the week to December 31, which is likely to have been ahead of patchy trading across the rest of the UK.

A spokesman for New West End Company, which represents 600 shops in Bond Street, Oxford Street and Regent Street, said: "Retailers were quite upbeat for that final week up to New Year's Eve. Everyone had left it late and were using their vouchers in the final week. It was a last-minute surge to the end of the year."

The star performers were the luxury retailers, such as at Selfridges, which delivered the most lucrative hour in its history on Boxing Day, when it took £1.3 million in just 60 minutes.

In addition to the luxury players, the NWEC cited strong demand for fast-fashion, such as at Topshop, as well as retailers, including John Lewis, which benefited from some strong demand for the latest technology products.

Following this final rush, NWEC has forecast that like-for-like sales for the year will be 2.5% higher than 2010.

The spokesman said: "I think these are pretty healthy figures against the wider UK."