The volume of UK retail sales in the three months to October was flat – better than economists expected and in sharp contrast to gloomy industry surveys.

Just in the past month, however, sales fell by 0.1 per cent, leaving them 1.9 per cent higher year-on-year, according to the Office for National Statistics on Thursday. Analysts had forecast a monthly fall of 0.9 per cent and a year-on-year rise of 1.4 per cent.