40 million shoppers to visit London this Christmas

40 million shoppers are expected to hit London's main retail destinations over the coming six weeks, as increased consumer confidence is proving sales are steady and on the rise.

Bond Street, Regent Street and Oxford Street are the three main shopping thoroughfares that will see Londoners spend over 1 billion pounds this Christmas.

With Christmas Day falling mid-week on the calendar, the retailers can expect a surge of last minute shopping for those who are waiting until Christmas Eve.

The New West End Company, which represents stores across the zone, believes that sales will be up around 8 percent on last year, with shoppers feeling less anxious about their personal finances than at any time since the start of the credit crunch in 2007.

The organisation’s deputy chief executive Jace Tyrrell said: “The big growth is the UK domestic customer, as generally consumer confidence is stronger than it has been for some time. There is more spending power and wages are growing in real terms.

“This has been a year of political uncertainty both here and abroad, so there is a lot of pent-up demand to spend and the confidence is helping people when it comes to buying big-ticket items.”