UK retail sales 'rose in January'

The January sales saw heavy discounting by many retailers.

Sales of retail goods rose in January, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) has said, after shops cut prices to encourage consumers to keep spending.

On a like-for-like basis, retail sales rose 1.1% compared with a year earlier, the biggest increase since May 2008.

The strong overall performance was driven by food sales, which rose 5.1%. Sales of non-food items fell by 1.6%.

Whilst one swallow does not make a summer, the Press talked us into recession to some degree and therefore with a positive mental attitude, I think we can come out of it.

On my part, I have had more enquiries (and actually rented out a shop!) since January 2nd 2009 than in the last half of 2008, and it does all feel more positive. We must all keep working hard, being creative, making the most of our current teams and staying focused on the future.

Nobody really saw the recession coming and nobody can tell when we'll emerge from it, but boom always follows bust and there are opportunities coming round the corner for those receptive to them.