Synovate records an encouraging year-on-year increase in non-food footfall, with July up 8.4% on previous month.
The Synovate Retail Traffic Index (RTI) - a UK retail metric that shows through-the-door shopper numbers - recorded a 0.2% year-on-year rise in non-food retail footfall in July and an 8.4% increase on June.

Synovate retail psychologist Dr Tim Denison, who analysed the data, said: "Coming off the back of a better than expected June, July's marginal year-on-year rise in footfall is another small and welcome step forward for British retailing. The faltering market is now pegged, at least in the short term."

He added: "It is almost as if the whole of the country, not just parliament, is enjoying a summer recess, away from the economic and political battlefields. The benign conditions have helped patch consumer confidence and stop the shopping rot. The summer sales have played their part in encouraging shoppers to go out and spend and I would say that they have been more effective in this regard than last year."

All regions of the UK enjoyed an uplift in non-food shoppers in July, especially Wales and the south west, where footfall was up 12.2% on June.

However, Dr Denison was keen to stress: "We shouldn't get ahead of ourselves... the real action will return again in the autumn, when the spectre of public spending cuts, job insecurity and pay freezes reappear to test our resolve."