RETAILERS in Worcester have recorded a generally "bleak" Christmas amid national reports that December sales were the worst for a decade.

A study by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and accountants KPMG found like-for-like sales fell by 0.4 per cent last month.

Trading started slowly in Worcester and only really picked up in the last week of Christmas, when there was a massive surge, according to the city's biggest centres. But even that was not enough to boost the figures.

"It has been a very difficult Christmas," said John Kendrick, manager of the Cathedral Plaza shopping centre.

"We had busy days instead of busy weeks and while we had a late rush, it was really too late."

CrownGate recorded higher numbers of visitors to the centre, who spent longer shopping than previous years, but also admitted December was a bad month for sales.

"While we don't have the individual sales figures for all our tenants, we are hearing reports that December was a tough month for trading," said centre manager Carolyn Mantle.

Major items

"Having said that, post-Christmas sales have attracted more shoppers than anticipated and some of our chain stores are outperforming other branches in the region."

Consumers nationally and locally shied away from splashing out on major items such as furniture and homewares ahead of Christmas as they anticipated deep discounts in the end-of-season sales, according to the BRC.

The report also found cheaper prices of computers and mobile phones meant sales values were well down on a year ago, despite more units sold.

Womenswear was the weakest clothing range, while, in contrast, sales of food and drink grew as grocers benefited from a longer trading week ahead of Christmas Day.

Director-general of BRC Kevin Hawkins said the figures represented "the worst Christmas for retailers in the last decade".

But Kevin O'Hara, manager of the Salters Shopping Centre in Droitwich, said such comparisons should not be made.

"It was quiet. But it is wrong to compare figures, as the world has changed a lot in the last 10 years," he said.

"Prices have come down and a lot of people, including myself, now shop online.

"Retailers haven't given me their sales figures, but it was a generally bleak Christmas."

Today's findings follow a string of post-Christmas profits warnings from some of the best-known names on the high street, including Marks & Spencer, Woolworths and JJB Sports.

M&S said on Friday that its annual profits were unlikely to top £625m after the trading environment deteriorated since the summer and its like-for-like sales fell 5.6 per cent in the six weeks to January 1.