Yes, absolutely shattered rn - my body is very unsure what time it is. Opted to take the safer route back. Some Brits I met along the way were spending 50 hours travelling and some spent £3-4k on new tickets. I think it could have been a lot worse than what it was for me and my mate
Because of ME tensions, I ended up flying back to the UK through NZ (nice two day stopover!) before another flight to Houston and then finally back to Heathrow 🇬🇧
Perth dump
I’ve never wanted to be back in Blighty as bad as rn 🇬🇧
Gosh getting back to the UK is not going to be easy 😭
Sydney dump - next stop Perth 🇦🇺
I made it through Dry Jan. Time for a cold 🍺
stirlingretail.com/2026/01/26/r...
ICYMI: Our post from yesterday (26/01). The second of a two part pair. This by @vacantshopsacademy.bsky.social on proactive and practical steps to tackle vacancy in our high streets.
Looking ahead, a cautious recovery beckons. With interest rates set to fall and the CPI expected to dip by summer, real earnings growth of 1% may restore some purchasing power. Yet, with unemployment at 5.1%, value will remain the focus for the British consumer throughout 2026.
🌐 Factory gate or output inflation remains elevated at 3.4%. Global headwinds are mixed: oil prices rose 3.7% to ~$65, yet the FAO Global Food Index slipped in December, a welcome, if modest, counterbalance to the domestic factory-gate pressures currently filtering through to the shelf.
Interestingly, non-food has exited its long period of deflation, ticking up to 0.3%. While fashion remains a bargain-hunter’s haven, categories like health and beauty (+3.0%) and furniture (+1.1%) are beginning to show more stubborn price growth. 🏷️
🛒 Grocery costs remain the primary catalyst. Food inflation rose to 3.9%, with fresh items up 4.4% year-on-year. While dairy wholesale saw some relief, the cost of meat and fish remains elevated. Ambient goods also picked up, rising 1.5% on the month as supply pressures persisted.
Headline inflation climbed to 1.5% in January, up from 0.7% in December. This 0.4% monthly uptick signals that any post-festive respite for consumer wallets may be limited. 📊
🛍️ Deflation’s retreat: Shop prices pick up in January
The latest @britishretail.bsky.social - NIQ Shop Price Monitor suggests prices picked up at their fastest pace in almost a year.
I was thinking I should maybe do sober October next time for that reason 🇬🇧
Lucky guy! One more week until Dry Jan is over for me 😢
Mixed signals from the GfK survey of consumer confidence. but one positive is the improvement in the outlook for personal finances... 👇
Hopes of lower inflation and lower interest rates may be offsetting fears of higher taxes and rising unemployment... (1/2)
nielseniq.com/global/en/ne...
Caveat however being that larger retailers performed worse than smaller retailers. In annual terms, larger retailers saw sales drop 1.6% and smaller retailers were up 6.4%.
If we break down volumes at the detailed-level, then these are the growth rankings. Computers, phones and second-hand goods continuing to perform the best.
It's only really non-store retailing (pure play) and other stores (computers/phones/pre-loved items) that saw much growth in the final month of 2025.
If we break it down to the category level, then it looks like the #tobacco duty had a clear impact on sales. Independents performed better than supermarkets.
Value continues to diverge from values the most in food sales. Food sales are 6.1% below their pre-Covid levels and non-food sales 0.6% below. It's clear which has seen the strongest improvement, more recently.
Nonetheless, we observe an improvement in sales this most recent golden quarter, as compared to 2024, of 2.1%, which is the fastest since 2020.
Retail sales volumes were lower in Q4 vs Q3, but on the month we did see an increase in sales volumes of 0.4%.
Looking at other retail categories, furniture and flooring was the only major category to sit comfortably in deflation. Otherwise, clothing inflation was zero, and alcohol + tobacco prices saw a significant rise (surprising given how many deals there were):
Food prices registered a strong 0.8% increase on the month, and diving deeper, there were significant prices increases for pasta products as well as bread, pork and olive oil.
Slight increase in inflation, driven by a few factors, principally alcohol and tobacco, followed by transport (earlier collection than usual of flight ticket prices) as well as hospitality, fashion and food.
ONS statement saying employee numbers have fallen again, with reductions concentrated in retail and hospitality
📉 In the least surprising news ever, if the government makes it more expensive for retail and hospitality businesses to employ people, then they will - SURPRISE - employ fewer people!
For more insight into our Retail Sales Monitor, follow BRC Economist @harvirdhillon.bsky.social 👇
📉 The point here is that the "slowest growth" headlines were driven by food sales. Non-food retail actually *declined* in December 2025. Ignoring Easter/Black Friday phasing effects, it was the worst decline for over a year...
How does "cozzie livs" affect retail? Now you know 👇
