According to the British Retail Consortium (BRC), UK retail sales values rose by +4.6% on a like-for-like basis and increased by +6.3% on a total basis from April 2008.

Easter and the warmer weather boosted both food and non-food sales. In non-food, clothing, footwear and outdoor leisure showed the best growth but big-ticket homewares and furniture sales remained difficult.

Non-food non-store sales (internet, mail order and phone sales) in April were +12.5% higher than a year ago, thus following the month’s uplift in store sales.

Stephen Robertson, director general of the BRC, said: “The best sales growth for three years is good news but let’s be cautious. A sunny Easter that fell in April this year is the key reason why overall sales are up compared with last year when Easter was in March and miserable. Sales of garden goods, outdoor leisure, clothing and good did well but other non-food sectors missed out on the seasonal boost and the total spent on food rose less than food inflation, indicating the amount sold dropped.

“Following a tough winter, there’s some pent-up demand but there’s no reason to think customers suddenly feel flush or eager to spend. With unemployment set to grow through the rest of the year, mounting job worries will hold back spending for some time. It would be great if the historically weak performance of the last 12 months was behind us but we shouldn’t celebrate yet.”