Shoppers staged a muted return to the High Street last month, recording a weaker-than-expected bounce back from two months of falling sales.
Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed retail sales volumes rose 0.3 per cent, slightly below economists forecasts of about 0.4 per cent.
The rebound followed two consecutive months of falls and highlighted concerns consumer spending was on the wane.
Updated figures from the ONS showed June's fall was not as bad as thought.
Figures for the month were revised up to a 0.4 per cent decline, better than the 0.7 per cent fall previously recorded, while May's fall was revised down to 0.6 per cent.
Economists were cheered by these revisions and said if the back data was taken into account the figures were in broadly line with expectations.
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