Sales in the high street have risen by 1.2% in June as the hot weather has boosted demand for summer clothes, official figures have today revealed.

British retail sales jumped at three times the rate analysts expected last month with clothing selling particularly well, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures revealed.

The largest increase recorded came from clothing and footwear stores - up over 4.7% over the month.

Meanwhile, the largest decrease was in household goods stores at 6.2%, which now has 12 consecutive periods of negative growth.

Alan Clarke, UK economist at BNP Paribas, said: "It is worth keeping this release in context. Last month sales fell by almost one per cent.

"This month sales have risen by just over one per cent. Take the two together and sales growth on average over the last two months was 0.15 per cent. Not bad but not brilliant either and a large part of the strength was discounting and the weather."

Economic growth figures due on Friday are expected to show that the economy shrank by about 0.4% between April and June, compared with a 2.4% contraction in the first three months of the year.

The figures released today give weight to the view that the worst of the recession in the UK may be over.

However, analysts have argued that although the ONS’s figures are upbeat, it is still too soon to call a turnaround in the economy.

(JM/BMcC)