Stephen Robertson, Director General, British Retail Consortium, said: “London’s January sales growth was the second weakest annual growth since November 2005. Widespread price cuts gave a boost to clothing, footwear and small homeware items, although usually at the expense of margins. Last week’s rate cut has come at the right time but, given these figures, more cuts will be needed to encourage London’s shoppers to spend and ensure the slowing economy lands softly.”

Helen Dickinson, Head of Retail, KPMG, said: “London continues to outperform the UK as a whole. However, the like-for-like growth of 3.7% is the lowest for over two years (excluding November 2007, which was seen as a temporary blip), and well below the average London growth rate of 8% in 2007. It marks the beginning of a year where the comparatives for London are strong and hence will be increasingly difficult to beat as the year progresses - we can therefore expect a trend of lower growth in the coming months as the economic conditions become more challenging.”

Image: BBC