Matthew Bevan, of Tanners – one of the county firms enjoying a sales boom

Shropshire is enjoying a pre-Christmas sales boom, as new figures predicted nearly £400 million would be spent by shoppers in the county’s two biggest towns.

Barclays bosses today said tills would be jingling in Shrewsbury to the tune of £234 million this month, with people in Telford splashing out £145.4 million. Nationally, the banking giant is predicting a four per cent improvement on last December.

Consumers are said to be spending £17,540 every second, to a total of £47 billion.

Meanwhile, Shrewsbury wine merchant Tanners did its bit to add cheer to the festive season on Monday night when it shipped more than 22 tonnes of wine.

More than 2,000 parcels of wine were despatched from its Wyle Cop headquarters, accounting for around half its orders to private customers throughout the country this month, while more still is likely to be sent to retailers.

Private sales director Robert Boutflower said: “We are holding our own in tough times, and loyal Tanners customers are still supporting us.”
Squeezed

Adrian Davies, Barclays retail area director for Shropshire, said: “It’s been a difficult year for consumers whose household budgets have been squeezed to cope with rising costs.

“But we are expecting shoppers to shun the doom and gloom and spend record levels as retailers make massive reductions. Despite squeezed household budgets, shoppers are expected to loosen the purse-strings once they reach the shops.”

An anticipated £31 million is expected to cross the counters at superstores by Shrewsbury people spending on cards, compared with £7.7 million at petrol stations and £4.2 million at department stores.

Telford consumers will spend £19.2 million at sup-ermarkets, £4.7 million at petrol stations, and £2.6 million in department stores, according to Barclays.

Online shopping accounts for over a quarter of debit card spend.

A total of £91.6 million of cash is expected to be withdrawn from Shrewsbury ATMs and banks throughout December, compared to £56.7 million in Telford.