Cheer for John Lewis

MILDER weather has given a boost to John Lewis, with the department store chain cheering another double-digit rise in sales. Benefiting from "pent-up demand" after the recent big freeze, sales rose 15.7 per cent to £51.2 million in the week to last Saturday, following the 11 per cent improvement seen over the previous seven days.

In Scotland, Glasgow was the best performing store, with sales rising 6.2 per cent year-on-year, Edinburgh lifted 1.7 per cent but Aberdeen dipped 2.1 per cent.