British shoppers increased spending on food and household goods last month, shrugging off fears about US tariffs and higher consumer price inflation to give the high street its best month in nearly two years.

Monthly retail sales climbed by 1.2 per cent in April, according to official figures, exceeding an expected 0.2 per cent jump forecast by economists. April’s retail performance also far outstripped the 0.1 per cent rise recorded in March, which was downgraded from a first estimate of 0.4 per cent from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The figures mean that retail spending is at its highest since July 2022 and monthly volumes have expanded for four consecutive months. Retail sales have expanded by 1.8 per cent on a three-month basis, the best period of expansion in nearly four years, and rose by 5 per cent on an annual basis — the highest since 2019.

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The figures suggest the UK economy’s strong growth momentum at the start of the year will continue into the second quarter as households defied doom about escalating US tariffs in April.

Retail sales figures are one of the earliest official indicators of economic growth in a given month and quarter. The UK economy expanded at the fastest pace in two years between January and March but GDP output is widely expected to slow or could even fall negative in the second quarter, economists have said.

Andrew Wishart, economist at Berenberg, said Britons had “resorted to retail therapy to cope with their economic and financial woes” last month.

The strong spending data suggests that consumers were not hit too hard by the rise in consumer price inflation last month from 2.6 per cent to 3.5 per cent driven by regulated price increases in energy, water and vehicle taxes. Inflation is expected to steadily creep back down to 2 per cent by the start of 2027.

The ONS said shoppers spent big in food shops and department stores and on household goods. Monthly sales when excluding fuel purchases were still 1.3 per cent higher than in March.

High street spending was helped along by the third warmest April on record and the later timing of Easter towards the end of the month. The ONS said consumers spent big in “butchers and bakers, alcohol and tobacco stores”. Online spending fell by 0.3 per cent last month, after expanding in February and March.

Economists expect retail sales to hold up this month after closely watched surveys of households showing a broad-based pick up in sentiment. GfK’s closely watched poll of consumer sentiment gained three points in May and pointed to households returning to spending on “big ticket” items like furniture.

May’s polling coincided with the UK signing a partial trade deal to avoid tariffs in areas such as steel and aluminium and after the Bank of England cut interest rates for the fourth time in early May.

“Retail sales volumes have been trending up steadily since late-2023 as real wage growth returned and the Bank signalled that interest rate cuts were coming,” Rob Wood, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics said. “Household saving has risen over that period too but that gives consumers a buffer to draw on as real income growth now slows.”