RETAIL figures in Worcester nosedived last month, but were not nearly as bad as in other parts of the UK.

The British Retail Consortium yesterday reported that sales nationally fell to their lowest level in a decade.

And while the situation locally was bad, with major shopping centres reporting poor figures, it wasn't as dire as the national picture.

"I wouldn't say our figures are the worst in a decade, but April was not a great month," said Cathedral Plaza manager, John Kendrick.

"Sainsbury's did really well locally and nationally, taking over from Asda as the UK's second biggest food retailer, but other shops were not so fortunate.

"Clothing in particular was difficult to sell because of the changing weather. Hopefully, this weekend if it is sunny, things will improve," Mr Kendrick said.

"On a brighter note, we are going to promote our Sunday openings more as this is the only day of the week which is consistent. Also the fact the interest rates have stayed the same is fantastic."

The British Retail Consortium said shop sales were 4.7 per cent lower than in April last year. It partly blamed this on an early Easter, which fell in March.

CrownGate manager Carolyn Mantle agreed this didn't help but said the signs for this month were promising.

"Footfall, that is the number of pedestrian visitors to the centre, dropped by four per cent in April this year," she said. "In part this was expected as Easter, which is a key trading period for us, came early this year - we enjoyed the 15 per cent footfall increase on Easter Monday.

"Looking to summer trading, May is already picking up and footfall so far this month is only down one per cent on 2004 which is extremely encouraging when compared to the national picture," Ms Mantle added.