Poor weather and early Easter dampen April retail sales

Poor weather and an earlier Easter led to disappointing retail sales for April, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC).
The trade association reported UK total retail sales were down 4% for the four weeks 31 March to 27 April, compared to a growth of 5.1% the same time last year.
However, noting the calendar change this year, the organisation said the average growth for March and April together was 0.2%, correcting for the distortion created by the earlier timing of Easter.
Food sales