London's shops sizzle in June

London's retailers posted their strongest sales rise for 15 months in June, as overseas visitors continue to help them massively outperform those in the rest of the UK, according to the New West End Company.

The firm – which promotes the district as a shopping destination – also expects the strong performance of chains in the capital to continue through July, as pre-Ramadan visitors from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates swell international shoppers to a peak in the last two weeks of July.

Like-for-like sales in London surged by 11 per cent in June, compared to a fall of 0.6 per cent for the UK as a whole. Food and drink sales in London jumped by a record 4 per cent last month.