UK retail sales see 'slowest growth' of the year amid weaker spending appetite

Food sales rose 3.6% annually

UK total retail sales rose by 1% year on year in May, according to data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC), with the agency’s chief executive, Helen Dickinson, noting that this marked “the slowest growth in 2025 so far”.

The report, covering the four weeks between 4 and 31 May 2025, came in higher than the 0.7% growth posted in May 2024, with food sales giving a boost to last month's figures as they rose by 3.6% annually. Meanwhile, non-food sales fell by 1.1% year on year in May, "flat against a decline of 1.1% in May 2024", according to the BRC, while in-store non-food sales dropped 0.9% from the same month a year ago. Good weather boosts April UK retail sales to highest level since July 2022 "Consumers put the brakes on spending," Dickinson said. "This was due largely to declines in non-food sal...