Britons spend, spend, spend

Britain's high streets are buzzing with activity in the run-up to Christmas, with official figures today showing shoppers spending at the fastest rate since the late-Eighties boom.

Boosting hope of a bumper festive season for stores, retail sales volumes jumped by 1.3 per cent last month - the strongest monthly increase since January last year.

The year-on-year rate of increase was up from six per cent in October to a speedy 7.1 per cent - the strongest since 1988.

A strong performance was seen across the board, with clothes shops and shoe shops enjoying a two per cent increase in sales, and household goods stores shifting 1.7 per cent more stock than the previous month.

The broad "other stores" category, which covers everything from book shops and music stores to gift shops, fared the best, with sales up 2.6 per cent.

"Consumer confidence is still robust and personal lending is at record highs," said economist John Butler at HSBC. "And why

not, when unemployment and interest rates are still at historically low levels?"

The retail frenzy looks to have continued into this month. John Lewis saw sales surge by two per cent last weekend compared with the same weekend last year, which was one of its best.

Expensive goods such as digital TVs, DVD players and widescreen televisions flew off the shelves, and there was a surge in demand for jewellery and cashmere.