Barbecues Beat Brexit as U.K. Retail Sales Strengthen

U.K. consumers put any Brexit anxiety to one side in July as warmer weather boosted demand for food, drink and summer clothing, according to the British Retail Consortium.

The 1.1 percent growth in same-store sales -- the most since January -- tallies with a Visa/Markit report Monday that also showed consumer resilience.

Part of the increase was due to price cuts, but, according to David McCorquodale at KPMG, there was also the weather: “The July heatwave put picnics and barbecues high on the agenda, lifting sales of food and drink back into the black.”