The recent weather has been responsible for the wettest end to any summer for the last 50 years in parts of the country, according to the Met Office, which has produced mixed financial results for British businesses.
Cornwall and parts of the south coast have recorded up to three times more than the average rainfall they would normally expect in August.
A number of the UK’s largest companies will report their sales numbers for August later this week, however, the latest indication is that non-food retail sales fell by 4.3 per cent last month.
The John Lewis Partnership – which traditionally has a strong performance track record – has also revealed that its sales fell by 3.4 per cent when compared to results from the same period last year.
Ipsos Retail Performance, a global retail consultancy which measures shopper numbers, stated last week that footfall in 4,000 non-food stores was down by 5.4 per cent for August.
Despite this, there was some positive news from Visa Europe, which said that household expenditure actually rose by 1.9 per cent last month when directly compared to the same period 12 months ago.
Spending in bars and restaurants also went up by 8.9 per cent, though even Visa’s figures were not overly encouraging for the high street, which was said to have benefited from a negligible 1.4 per cent overall increase in sales.
The conflicting information means that many analysts are keen for results from larger companies to be revealed later this week, in order to gain a more in-depth view of how the UK’s retail sector performed last month.