High Street sales shine in the rain

LONDON'S retailers confounded reports of 'Armageddon' on the High Street in August as wet weather lured shoppers into the capital's stores.

A report from the London Retail Consortium showed like-for-like sales were 4% higher than a year ago, up from 3.3% the previous month. That compared with a national figure of just 0.6%.

It said torrential rain in the second half of the month seemed to have encouraged people, especially tourists from the Middle East, Asia and Europe, to shun seaside day trips in favour of shopping in the capital.

But it cautioned that the growth figure was flattered by an unusually weak performance a year ago.

Designer clothing and perfume sold especially well. LRC director David Southwell said: 'Central London sales outperforming the rest of the UK by such a strong number is good news, but the factor that will be putting the biggest smiles on retailers' faces will be the strength of visitor spending.'

Meanwhile, the latest snapshot of London's economy from Royal Bank of Scotland showed overall growth in the capital also outstripped the national average in August, although the rate of expansion eased slightly.

Improved client confidence and positive business sentiment led to a surge in new orders. The headline business activity index registered 57.4 against 57.7 in July, where a reading above 50 indicates expansion.