British retail sales volumes in November were up 1.3 per cent on the October figure, and 7.1 per cent from a year earlier.
This increase, fuelled largely by sales of warmer winter clothes as temperatures dropped, was higher than most analysts' were expecting.
Britain’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) says annual growth is the strongest since May, 1988. In the three months to November, sales rose a seasonally adjusted 1.6 per cent on the previous three months, while the year-on-year rise was 6.4 per cent.
ONS says the growth in volumes of sales in November was the highest monthly change since January 2000. The year-on-year growth was driven by textiles, clothing and footwear and household goods stores.
The annual growth in seasonally adjusted volume for November for non-store and repair goods was the highest since the current series of surveys began in 1986.
The average weekly value of retail sales in November was £4.7 billion sterling, 6.8 per cent higher than in November 2000.
In the three months to November, the value of sales in current prices was up 6.8 per cent compared with the same period a year ago.
PA