The New West End Company have released figures which show that West End retailers have enjoyed a strong Christmas trading period to date, with sales in November increasing by 13.9% year-on-year.
Chief executive of New West End Company, Jace Tyrrell said: “We’ve witnessed a fantastic trading environment in the run up to Christmas, with November and Black Friday weekend exceeding all expectation and continuing to show growth on this time last year.
“We expect a significant trading day on Christmas Eve, boosted by continued international spend and the traditional ‘last minute dash’."
The busiest trading day for the West End was Black Friday, with a 2% increase in footfall. The discount day extended over the whole weekend this year, with footfall for the four-day period from Black Friday to Cyber Monday reaching 3,654,056 – an uplift of 5.1% from the same period in 2015.
The luxury sector saw strong sales as trade was driven by tourists benefitting from the weak Pound following the EU referendum vote. Bond Street sales were up 34.3% year-on-year in November whilst footfall rose by 4%.
Luxury sales in the wider West End rose by 51% year-on-year with jewellery seeing a 19.7% increase.
Retail sales in Oxford Street were up 13.6% in November whilst Regent Street saw a 14.3% uplift.
