UK high street sales fell for the fourth month in a row, as the threat of recession inflation and rising hit shoppers.

Data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) show like-for-like sales – discounting the effect of new and larger stores – fell 1.5 per cent on a year ago.

This represents the sharpest fall since April – and sales have fallen for six of the last seven months.

Total sales rose one per cent.

The BRC laid the blame on the fall in sales on the credit crunch and the slump in the property market – particularly hitting higher price goods such as furniture, which saw its worst performance in seven years.

Shops have responded to the fall in confidence by cutting prices – but this has still failed to entice consumers onto the High Street.

“The prospects for consumer spending look increasingly bleak as the financial crisis adds to the intense pressures already facing households,” said Howard Archer, chief UK economist at analysts Global Insight.

“This is particularly worrying for retailers as the vital Christmas period draws ever closer.

“High food prices, rising utility bills, accelerating unemployment, substantially falling house prices, sharply lower equity prices, very tight credit conditions, increased mortgage repayments for many householders as a result of the credit crunch and higher debt levels are combining to weigh down heavily on consumers.

“Furthermore, the financial crisis will undoubtedly hit consumer confidence hard as it heightens already serious concerns about the economic situation and outlook. This seems certain to lead households to become even more cautious in their spending.”

He added the 0.5 per cent interest rate by the Bank of England last week – and the prospect of further cuts – will help some consumers, but pressures remain.

“Going forward, we expect to see a deepening of the current growing trend of consumers looking to economize by making greater use of discount retailers and supermarkets, as well as by trading down their purchases e.g. through buying more own label brands of goods and food rather than more expensive branded products,” Mr Archer added.

“We also expect consumers to try to increasingly look to take advantage of sales periods when buying big-ticket items.”