Spending power back in fashion on high street as retail sales at strongest since 2008

This year has been the strongest for retail sales since 2008, as bargain hunters are set to spend millions this weekend in the run up to Cyber Monday.

Black Friday saw traffic chaos in many towns and cities as shoppers piled into shops in search of pre-Christmas bargains. Stores all were knocking up to 50% off the normal retail price, with many of the sales continuing today and tomorrow.

The multi-million shopping spree coincided with figures from the CSO which saw the volume of retail sales fall 0.8% in October. However, on an annual basis retail sales are up almost 7%.