The Co-operative Group, the UK’s largest mutually-owned retailer, added to the brighter picture emerging from the high street on Tuesday after saying its food shops had enjoyed a strong Christmas period.

Sales excluding fuel in the three weeks to January 3 rose by 6 per cent on a like-for-like basis, taking the growth in that measure for the fourth quarter to 5.2 per cent, and for the whole of 2008 to 4.9 per cent.