It will come as little surprise to the shop assistants losing their jobs as hundreds of shops close across the country, but the high street on course for its worst year in at least a decade.
Year-on-year sales fell by 1.7% last month, the fifth successive month of in-store declines, according to figures from the consultancy BDO.
The figures mark the first time in at least 12 years that in-store growth has failed to exceed 1 per cent in a month for the first half of a calendar year, and capped the end of a “crippling” six months according to BDO.
