Brits hit the high street

Retail surge

Retail sales surged 9.2% in April according to the Office for National Statistics, as nonessential shops reopened their doors for the first time this year. That’s far higher than most economists had predicted. Many shoppers ditched online shopping in favour of bricks and mortar browsing, leading to a 5.6% dip in online sales. And fashion led the charge with a 70% jump in clothing sales.

Happy spenders

UK consumers feel as good as they did in March 2020, before the full effects of the pandemic hit home. The GfK consumer confidence index has been rising since January and hit -9 in April. That doesn’t sound very high, but it means the public is in a better financial mood than it has been for over a year. Banks and businesses follow this data to understand how likely we are to go out and spend in the economy.

10p plastic bags

Single-use bags now cost 10p in all shops in England, as a 5p price increase takes effect today. The original 5p charge was brought in in 2015 and has been incredibly effective - plastic bag use has gone down 95%. Environmental groups want the government to go further and ban so-called “bags for life” which contain more plastic and are often just used once.