Retail sales in Britain rose strongly in August, helped by strong sales of food, official data showed this morning.
Retail sales rose by 0.6% in August from July, when they had advanced by 0.7%, the Office for National Statistics said.
The growth came mostly in sales of food, which rose by 1.3% in August, the biggest gain since June 2006. There were also large gains to sales of clothing and other non-food items.
The annual rate of growth in sales in August was 4.9%, the strongest growth rate since March 2007.
