Temporarily boosted by increased sales last month, the Capital's retailers face challenging times following last week's terrorist attacks.
Central London shop sales in June rose 3.6% compared to the same period last year, data from the London Retail Consortium (LRC) shows, bringing good news after the decline recorded in May. The June figure for the UK as a whole was down 0.5%.
The good weather led to increased purchases of clothing and footwear but at the expense of big-ticket items as shoppers turned to thoughts of summer holidays rather than home improvements, LRC said.
Today's upbeat figures, however, are overshadowed by the probable impact of last Thursday's explosions.
Analysts predict many shoppers and tourists, fearful of further attacks, are likely to stay away from the Capital. Fewer customers would impact hard on the finances of retailers already under pressure from the long term high street slowdown.
Separate data from retail monitoring firm SPSL shows shopper numbers were down 21% on Saturday compared to a year ago. On Thursday, the day of the terror attacks, they dipped 77%.
Helen Dickinson, from KPMG, said: "Any hope that this month's growth will be indicative of ongoing strong performance are likely to have been dashed following the introduction of an increased congestion charge...and the tragic events at the end of last week which will no doubt impact negatively on shopper and tourist numbers."
LRC director Kevin Hawkins added: "Retailers in the Capital are braced for a downturn in sales following the terrible events last week."
At least 49 people died in the blasts and around 700 were injured. The first victim of the bombs to be formally identified was named today as 53-year old Susan Levy, who was travelling to work on the Piccadilly Line.
