British Easter getaway hits John Lewis sales

John Lewis today highlighted the impact of last week's flurry of holidays despite upbeat recent numbers from Next and Sainsbury with sales figures down 9.2%.

Last week, sales from its department stores were down 9.2% on the previous year while its food sales - the Waitrose chain - were up only 1.4%.

In a statement, the partnership said: "It was a unique week of trade with a lovely party feeling, but inevitably the bank holidays had a detrimental effect on footfall."

"Despite some decent days of trade midweek, the combined effects of Easter Sunday and the half-day closure last Friday meant that we finished down 9.2 percent on Saturday."