Soaring temperatures in July contributed to a decline in shopper footfall last month, as Britons deemed it too hot to shop.
The hot weather contributed to a 2.1 per cent slide in footfall across retail destinations in July, compared to the same month last year.
High Streets were hit the hardest with footfall declining 3.8 per cent, while shopping centres fell 1.4 per cent, alongside a 1.2 per cent increase for retail parks, according to data compiled by the British Retail Consortium and researchers Sensormatic.
As England and Wales were the driest since records began in 1836, the appetite for retail wilted.
But shops fared slightly better than in June, when record-breaking heatwaves saw footfall slide 3.4 per cent.
