The Retail FootFall Index (RFI) also shows that visitor numbers remain significantly lower than 12 months ago, with November's -7.3 per cent drop continuing a run of falling shopper visits, on a year-on-year basis, that stretches back to mid-2005.

FootFall spokesperson Natasha Burton said: "Since the interest rate rises and increases in household bills, there's been extra strain put on people's resources and this has discouraged them from non-essential spending.

"High street demand also appears to be flattening out, particularly on the food side. We're already hearing a number of reports that this will be the worst Christmas for over 25 years and on the evidence that the RFI index is showing, this could be a bad end of year for retailers who have normally relied on buoyant trading throughout the festive period.

Martin Davies, director of retail planning for Experian, said: "While the upward trend of shoppers visiting retail parks and shopping centres began as usual in October, the lag behind previous years is glaring. With three full trading weeks until Christmas we've already started to see phantom sales and special promotions appearing across the board. It's extremely likely that intelligent consumers are going to hold back their purchasing in the expectation of future bargains, take advantage of buying gifts alongside their groceries, or buy online from the convenience of their own homes."

Retail Footfall Index UK - November

Month-on-month (November 2006 v October 2006) UP +4.7%

Year-on-year (November 2006 v November 2005) DOWN -7.3%

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