‘Toxic mix’ hits region’s retailers

Research by the British Retail Consortium also found the North and Yorkshire had the third highest town centre retail vacancy rates last month at 12.5 per cent, marginally behind only Northern Ireland and the East Midlands among the 10 UK regions.

Nationally, footfall dropped by 4.7 per cent in October as a “toxic mix” of soaring fuel bills squeezed consumers’ income levels and the eurozone debt crisis sapped confidence, the BRC said.

The weak figures, partly caused by shoppers delaying buying winter clothes in the warmest October on record, came despite high levels of special offers and discounts.

The last time footfall fell so drastically was last December when freezing weather and heavy snow kept people at home, disrupting retail’s key trading period.

Between August and October the region’s footfall figures fell 5.3 per cent on the same period last year, compared with an average 2.3 per cent drop across the country, at odds with recent figures from the Office for National Statistics which showed a 0.6 per cent rise in retail volumes in October.

The number of empty shops in Britain’s town centres remains “alarmingly high” at 11.1 per cent, despite the opening of temporary outlets to cash-in on the traditional festive spending spree.

The survey will fuel fears of another miserable Christmas for retailers following a raft of grim updates from the sector.

BRC director general Stephen Robertson said. “A successful Christmas will be a lifeline for many retailers and they will be hoping that sort of disruption doesn’t add to their woes this time around.”

Chris Edwards, managing director of Normanton, Wakefield-based budget retailer Poundworld, said the warm weather in October had hit takings.

He said: “From our point of view it’s very much business as expected apart from a dip around Halloween.

“We found the good weather was driving it down. Come Halloween there’s normally a bit of a nip in the air but this year it was scorching and it alters people’s thought processes.”

But others said the figures did not represent the full picture and cited the forthcoming £350m Trinity Leeds development, a one million sq ft shopping centre due to open in 2013, as a cause for optimism.

Tom Cullen, director of retail agency at Leeds-based estate agents Colliers, said: “In prime Leeds there are not a huge amount of vacancies. We are very fortunate to have a tight market.

“It will be interesting to see when Trinity Leeds starts filling up because those people moving there are moving from very good units, like Next and River Island, and those will be let quickly afterwards because it’s a busy city.”

Stephen Henderson, director of Savills estate agents, said: “The prime high streets are OK, it’s the sub-secondary streets which are suffering, but they give entrepreneurial companies the opportunity to come into the market.

“The figures are distorted in a way. People are turning away from shopping centres because of high service costs and looking to the high street because it’s more affordable.”

Gloomy updates from retailers have come thick and fast in recent days. Mothercare slumped to an £80m loss in its first half-year after suffering a 7 per cent sales slump and writing down the value of its UK business while fashion chain French Connection said profits for its third quarter were £1.8m below last year.

Game slashed full-year sales and profits forecasts despite the launch of record-breaking title Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.