Rugby World Cup ups UK retail sales to 2-year high

British retail sales recorded their strongest monthly growth in almost two years last month, boosted by bumper beer sales linked to the Rugby World Cup hosted in England and Wales.

Retail sales volumes surged 1.9% on the month, far higher than economists’ forecasts for a 0.3% rise, the UK’s Office for National Statistics said yesterday, in a break with poor data in the previous two months.

For the third quarter as a whole, retail sales rose by 0.9%, up from 0.8% growth in the second quarter, and offering some hope that consumer spending supported Britain’s economy as a whole over a period when export demand faltered.