North Cumbria’s biggest shopping centre bucked the national Christmas retail trend, with a better performance than the average across the rest of country.

David Jackson, commercial director of the The Lanes in Carlisle, revealed yesterday that the shopping centre recorded an overall footfall more than 1.5 per cent higher than the nationwide average in the final weekend before Christmas.

According to Mr Jackson, while the total footfall for Boxing Day - 35,000 - was down 2.6 per cent on last year’s figures, this was a stronger performance recorded by The Lanes than the national average, which saw a four per cent drop in retail footfall.

Mr Jackson was pleased with the figures. “It’s been a positive picture, we won’t get the exact figures until we talk to all the units but we had a successful Christmas period, especially in the final few days before Christmas,” he said.

“It was very busy in the last three days up until Christmas especially.”

On the final Saturday before Christmas, footfall was nine per cent higher than in 2017.

And on the final Sunday before December 25, visitor numbers to The Lanes were 25 per cent higher than the equivalent day last year.

The best news however came on Christmas Eve, where the number of shoppers visiting The Lanes was 45 per cent higher than Christmas Eve 2017.

This was welcomed by Mr Jackson, who felt the trend could have been down to the number of people in work up until the final few days before Christmas.

“We are very near to full employment in our catchment area,” he said.

“I think that could have a lot to do with how well we did in the last few days before Christmas.”

Supporting this suggestion was the swell in footfall each weekend in the run-up to Christmas.

“The weekends were much busier than in the weekdays,” Mr Jackson added.

“It seems people were shopping more at the weekend than they were last year.

“Late night shopping was good, but not as good as the weekends.”

Mr Jackson suggested this was yet another indication of the changing relationship customers have with the high street.

“The high street is changing, people are looking for a more social experience when they go shopping,” he said.

“It’s almost going back to how it used to be many years ago, with people treating shopping as a day out, an opportunity to meet up with people or spend time with the family.”

One change in retail that Mr Jackson highlighted was the slowdown reported among online retailers.

Earlier this month, it was reported that shares in the online retail giant Asos had fallen 37% as the company warned it had experienced a decline in trading.

“I think people overall are spending less,” Mr Jackson said.

“People are being careful with their money.”

However, Mr Jackson stressed this is not necessarily a death knell for the high street, given how more people are treating a day shopping as a social experience as well as an opportunity to make purchases.

This is being reflected in the slowly changing nature of what The Lanes offers its visitors.

Earlier this week, it was revealed that a planning application had been submitted to Carlisle City Council to transform one of the former New Look units into a restaurant.

The units had been created after New Look relocated to a smaller unit in the shopping centre, adjacent to Superdrug, with its former premises being divided into three.

Mr Jackson added that there were changes on the horizon that would be announced in the coming weeks.

“We’ll be ready to make some announcements in the early weeks of next year, which will be a good way to kickstart 2019.”