SUSSEX High Streets got a much needed boost from last- minute Christmas shoppers after November's sales slump.

Figures from the British Retail Consortium reveal that nationally like-for-like retail sales were up 2.9 per cent in December compared to last year.

Total sales, which include those from new store space, were up 5.6 per cent.

Best performers were homeware stores, with many consumers buying themed millennium china, silver and glassware.

Food and drink retailers also did well as sales of beers, wines and

spirits rocketed in the final few

days before the New Year celebrations.

But clothing shops fared less well with disappointing sales of men's formal wear and women's lingerie

in the last few days before

Christmas.

Relieved

The start of the sales was also

quieter than expected with consumers less keen than usual to shop between Christmas and the New Year.

Bridget Rosewell, chief economic adviser to the BRC, said: "Retailers have been relieved by the recovery in sales performance in the run-up to Christmas."

But she said the upturn was not strong enough to outweigh the

sluggish growth of earlier months.

She said: "Other evidence shows that pricing remains tight and consumers careful."

Mark Bradshaw, acting BRC director general, said it was a welcome return to more "respectable" rates of sales growth.

But he added: "It should be remembered that in December 1998 no annual growth in like-for-like sales was recorded. The growth recorded this year is good but hardly spectacular."

The BRC survey came as Britain's retailers issued their own Christmas trading statements.

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