Shoppers in Shropshire were today attempting to beat next week’s VAT hike by hitting the high street in the hunt for bargains.

Thousands of bargain-hunters were making a beeline for Telford Shopping Centre and for stores at Telford Bridge retail park, the Forge retail park and Wrekin retail park. The rush comes in the countdown to a rise in VAT, from 17.5 per cent to 20 per cent on January 4, adding some £10 to items priced at £500.

Phil Smith and his wife Emma travelled to Telford from Stafford in their search for money-saving goods.

Mr Smith said: “We are here for sales clothes and for furniture, because with the VAT increase next week on more expensive goods it will make quite a bit of difference, so it’s important for us get things now.

“We might be looking at a new suite, which could run into the thousands.”

Mrs Smith said she was looking for smaller items such as clothes, but said she was conscious of beating the VAT increase.

She said: “It does all build up — I think that when VAT went down, prices went down by quite a lot.”

Plumber Robert Simmonds was shopping for bargains with his wife Wendy, but said the VAT increase would make little difference to the type of items they were looking for, mainly clothes. “The biggest bargains were in Next yesterday — you couldn’t move around the shop,” he said. “A lot of people queued out of the door.”

Shirley Mason, of Woodside, Telford, was buying tops for her husband, a jumper for herself and some boots for her granddaughter.

“The VAT increase will make a difference petrol-wise and I think it will make a difference to the cost of shopping,” she said.

And Katy Crisp, a building society worker from Oswestry, said that with three young children to feed and clothe, bagging a bargain was more important than ever.

“I’ve bought a few clothes for my children so far,” she said. “I’ve bought a new coat for one of them. I was going to buy it before Christmas but I thought I would wait for the sales.”

Although VAT is not being increased on children’s clothes, she has been mindful of the imminent hike.

“We were going to wait for the sales to buy a new telly but we bought one before Christmas because of the increase in VAT,” she said.

Retailers said they hoped the extra VAT would prompt those planning to buy larger items to do so in the next few days.