London retail continues to outpace UK

The UK capital once again defied the wider economic downturn last month with a like-for-like sales climb of 5.1 per cent in March – in contrast, the UK as a whole saw like-for-likes drop 1.2 per cent compared to the same month in 2008.

For the first quarter of 2009, London sales grew 5.8 per cent whilst national sales dropped 0.7 per cent.

London’s achievement is all the more notable following today’s announcement that UK inflation has gone negative for the first time 1960.

London retailers outperformed their UK counterparts by a wide margin, BRC director general Stephen Robertson stated, according to Retail Week. Although March didn’t include Easter this year, it did benefit from warm sunny weather compared with last year’s snow and rain.

Overseas visitors provided a boost to London sales, attracted by the favourable exchange rates. Consumer confidence in the capital also held up better than the rest of the UK.”