July’s heatwaves kept UK shoppers away from high street

A woman uses an umbrella to shield herself from the sun while on Oxford Street in London. Photograph: Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters

Shoppers stayed away from UK high streets during last month’s heatwave temperatures, with many choosing to buy online instead as the mercury in some areas rose into the mid-30Cs.

Trips to high streets were down by 3.8% year on year in July after a 6.2% fall in June, according to research from the monitoring firm Sensormatic for the British Retail Consortium (BRC).