Food sales drop as barbecue summer ends
Food sales saw their steepest drop in three years in September as consumers tightened their belts after the unusually hot summer, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said.
Sales of food were down 1.5% in the month, contributing to a 0.8% fall in total UK retail sales.
The ONS said sales continued to grow in the quarter to September, boosted by online shopping and sales of jewellery.
But it said the slowdown in food sales had been “stark”.
It follows the joint hottest summer on record – also boosted by the World Cup in June and July – which saw consumers splash out on food, drink and barbecues.
However, recent surveys from both the British Retail Consortium and Barclaycard indicated that households began to rein in their spending as temperatures cooled in September.
The ONS said falls had been spread across supermarkets and smaller stores, although other areas of retail suffered too.
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Spending was down at petrol stations in September and flat at non-food stores, it said.
Annual growth in total retail sales also slowed to 3%, despite economists’ predictions of an increase – although the ONS said this still marked “strong growth”.
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