Christmas saw soaring wine sales

Wine sales soared by more than 11 per cent year on year over the Christmas period, according to the retailer Majestic Wine today.

Underlying sales in the eight weeks to New Year's Eve were up 11.3 per cent compared with last year for the group, suggesting 11 September had little impact on business.

Chief executive Tim How said: "The figures speak for themselves - it was a very strong Christmas."

The news was just one piece of a wealth of evidence today pointing to a high street spending boom. Alexon, which owns the Dolcis, Bay Trading and Envy retail chains, said sales surged by 15 per cent year-on-year over Christmas and the New Year. The group says it now expects profits for the year ending 26 January of at least £23 million, almost double the previous year's total.

The British Retail Consortium will reveal later today that sales in the five weeks to 29 December were up by between six and seven per cent on a year earlier, double last year's 3.4 per cent.

BRC spokesman David Southwell said: "Consumers were determined to have a good Christmas and most retailers will expect strong figures for Christmas and the start of the sales trading period."

The CBI last week said shoppers splashed out at the fastest rate since the late-Eighties in the run-up to Christmas. But concern is mounting that the pace of spending is unsustainable with much of it financed by credit cards. Personal borrowing is running at record levels, and Bank of England Governor Sir Edward George has signalled that interest rates will have to rise if spending does not moderate of its own accord.

The Bank's monetary policy committee meets this week, but the cost of borrowing is expected to be left at four per cent for now at least. The City expects rates to be at 4.5 per cent by June and 5.5 per cent by the end of the year. A record number of new cars were driven out of showroomsin 2001, motor industry chiefs confirmed today, writes David Williams.

More than 2.45 million new cars were registered - outstripping even 1989, the previous best year, when 2.3 million new cars were sold.

The figure also comfortably exceeds sales of 2.2 million in 2000.

The best-performing major manufacturer was Citroen UK which recorded a rise of 52 per cent in 2001 over 2000.

Industry chiefs admit that lower prices forced on it by the Competition Commission - which found evidence of overcharging compared with other European countries - persuaded buyers back into the showrooms.