by david milliken london british consumers spent the most last month since the country went into a coronavirus lockdown in march as pubs restaurants barbers and beauty salons reopened according to industry figures published on tuesday data from barclaycard and the british retail consortium showed spending was close to getting back to normal levels though not all sectors were benefiting barclaycard said consumer spending was 26 lower than in july 2019 the smallest shortfall since the lockdown began however a sense of cautiousness still prevails barclaycard director esme harwood said advt official figures due on wednesday are expected to show britain suffered the biggest economic hit from covid19 of any major economy between april and june with output expected to be down by about 20 while unemployment has barely risen so far due largely to a government job protection scheme the bank of england expects the jobless rate to almost double to 75 by the end of 2020 reopening businesses as well as warm weather boosted consumer spending in july but sales at pubs and restaurants which reopened for onpremises consumption on july 4 remained well below yearago levels by contrast sales of takeaways and fast food were 20 higher than last year as people preferred to eat at home something finance minister rishi sunak is trying to change with government subsidies for dining in restaurants in august spending on groceries furniture and electronics was also up strongly while travel spending remained week figures from the british retail consortium which only cover shopping painted a similar picture for july total retail spending across the brcs members mostly large chains was 32 higher than a year earlier close to junes 34 rise the biggest increase since may 2018 the strongest performance came from food furniture and homeware as consumers increasingly invest in their time at home however many shops particularly in fashion jewellery and beauty are still struggling to survive brc chief executive helen dickinson said advt reuters published on aug 11 2020 at 1154 am ist telegram facebook copy link be the first one to comment comment now comments comment now read comment 1 all comments post post find this comment offensive choose your reason below and click on the submit button this will alert our moderators to take actions reasons for reporting foul language defamatory inciting hatred against a certain community out of context spam others report join the community of 2m industry professionals subscribe to our newsletter to get latest insights analysis download etretail app get realtime updates save your favourite articles scan to download app retail electronics coronavirus lockdown furniture jobless rate restaurants groceries consumer spending uk consumers shopping homenewsindustryuk consumer spending recovers in july as pubs and restaurants reopen