Christmas comes early for London stores as sales soar

Sales in the centre of the capital in October were 4.2% higher than a year ago on a like-for-like basis, stripping out sales from new shops, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said.

The weakness of the pound is attracting foreign tourists, particularly from western Europe and the Middle East, while the mild weather also helped encourage shoppers to hit the stores.

"These are the first solid signs that it will be a better retail Christmas than 2008," said Stephen Robertson, director general of the BRC. "London sales were well up on the dismal performance of a year ago and outperformed the rest of the UK, though not to quite the same extent as in recent months

The BRC's numbers chime with those from John Lewis, Liberty and other big London stores which have reported a pick up in sales in recent weeks.

John Lewis on Oxford Street is running like-for-like sales up nearly 16% on last year while its Peter Jones store on Sloane Square is up 10.8%.

Nat Wakeley, director of selling operations in London and the South for John Lewis said its London sales were particularly strong because they were the hardest hit a year ago by the Lehman Brothers collapse, especially Peter Jones.

Overall, BRC figures last year showed London sales down 2.6%.

Wakeley added: "It's a very recent trend, but the biggest uplift now is in furniture. People want a traditional British Christmas and are feeling confident enough to spend on a new sofa or television where last year they definitely weren't."

He said Christmas was coming earlier for shops this year than last, when most shoppers waited until their December pay cheques to buy presents.

"My forecast is that it will be considerably better than last Christmas."