British retail sales rose for a second straight month in June, led by clothing and a warm-weather boost

Retail sales in Great Britain rose 1.0 percent in June. The Office for National Statistics published the first estimate on Friday, following a 1.2 percent rise in May that it left unrevised. That is two consecutive monthly gains. Measured against a year earlier, volumes were up 4.2 percent, and they now sit 0.9 percent above where they were in February 2020, before the pandemic.

One category carried it. Clothing store volumes rose 1.9 percent, the largest monthly increase since September 2025, and retailers put it down to sales promotions and a run of warm weather that moved outdoor products, fans and air conditioning. Non-food stores added 1.2 percent, with computer and telecoms retailers and department stores among the stronger lines. Non-store retailers, the online and mail-order sellers, grew over both the month and the quarter for the same weather-and-promotions reason.

Fuel was the drag. Retail fuel volumes fell steeply over the second quarter compared with the first, after a spike in March when the ONS says motorists stocked up on fuel because of the conflict in the Middle East. That buying reversed through April and into the quarter, and the pattern is a small, early trace of the same shipping risk that has since carried Brent crude above $100.

The quarter was positive but shallow. Volumes across April to June rose 0.6 percent on the first quarter, a rise rather than a surge. These are first estimates and the ONS revises them as more returns arrive, so the shape matters more than any single decimal. What the shape shows for now is a British consumer who kept spending through the spring rather than one who retreated.