Bumper Christmas for high street as shops see best sales for three years

High street stores were on course for record pre-Christmas sales today after shoppers spent an estimated £120 million in the past two days alone.
November sales in London were 13.3 per cent higher than the same month last year and the best since October 2006, according to figures from the British Retail Consortium.
A weak pound combined with mild weather and early promotions and discounts from many departments stores helped to boost sales, the group said.
More than £1 billion is expected to be spent over the crucial six-week period up to December 24th - a stark contrast to last year when sales slumped as the recession began to bite.

Shoppers pack London's Oxford Street at the weekend, which saw sales hit record levels

Some analysts believe the spending spree may be a temporary boost driven by the short-term cut in VAT from 17.5 to 15 per cent, which ends this year.
Stephen Robertson, Director General, British Retail Consortium, said: 'These are great figures - the best sales growth for three years.
'Remember that this strong growth is compared with sales falls a year ago and many retailers are using promotional events and price cuts to get customers spending but these figures show London retailers have had a very encouraging start to Christmas with even big ticket items doing well.
'The weak pound continues to make London attractive to overseas visitors and November's record rain brought shoppers in from the suburbs, helping central London department stores in particular.
'Retailers will be hoping customers remain as resilient into the New Year. There are big uncertainties out there and we have yet to see the effect on sales of tough measures in the Pre-Budget Report.'

John Lewis said it had set a new all-time weekly sales record

Capital Shopping Centres (CSC), responsible for some of the UK's largest retail outlets, including the Metrocentre in Gateshead and Braehead in Glasgow, said footfall through its stores was up on last year's figure.
The number of people visiting the centres was up 3 per cent for the year to date in 2009, with more than seven million shoppers flocking to CSC's 14 centres in the past week alone.
Trevor Pereira, commercial director at CSC, said: 'Sales of traditional favourites - electrical goods, perfume sets, CDs and DVD - remain popular Christmas items.
'The pace of shopping is steady across the whole of the UK, and as ever, we expect late shopping surges over the next two weekends before Christmas.'
There was further good news as department store John Lewis, viewed as the high street bellwether, posed record sales of £110 million last week.
That is 15 per cent up on the same week last year and eight per cent higher than its record best week in 2007.
John Lewis said there was a noticeable trend this year of men doing their Christmas shopping earlier, with sales of beauty products, jewellery and lingerie all peaking sooner than usual.
There was also a marked increase in customers making large household purchases such as fitted kitchens as consumer confidence returned.
At John Lewis large household purchases were also seeing 'incredible growth', particularly in fitted kitchens.

Director of operational development Andrew Murphy said: 'It is very exciting to be breaking records week after week.
'The atmosphere in our branches is very festive as across the country people are out Christmas shopping, even men, although I am sure there will still be many who leave it until the last minute.'
Sales so far this month are up 10 per cent on the same time last year, according to the New West End Company, which represents traders in Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bond Street.
The figures are also far ahead of the record receipts of December 2007, meaning this month's sales could be the highest ever.

John Lewis' best-selling products this Christmas