The combination of glorious Easter weather and the royal wedding encouraged shoppers to spend, spend, spend last month, boosting trade in the city and county.
Businesses were reaping a 1.1 per cent rise in sales during April, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.
Managers at Fosse Park, Leicester, said shoppers, encouraged by the hottest April on record, were heading for the food and clothing aisles, giving the retail park a one per cent increase in sales compared with the same period last year.
Centre manager Kathy Murdoch said: "Retailers such as Marks and Spencer are a fantastic anchor store for us, who have definitely mirrored the national trend of high food and clothing sales.
"The sun makes people spend, and the period between the end of March and beginning of April – with the nice bank holiday and royal wedding – definitely gave us a boost."
Jo Tallack, General Manager at Highcross Leicester, said the shopping centre had enjoyed a big sales increase.
She said: "Highcross has experienced an increase of almost 10 per cent in like for like sales during April – buoyed by a late Mother's Day and the Bank Holiday weekends – compared to the same period last year.
"Our footwear, health and beauty and mixed fashions retailers continued to be amongst the best performing sectors, with restaurants also performing well."
The ONS said it was the best April for retail sales volumes growth since 2002.
The high temperatures also led to a national 3.2 percent rise in clothing and footwear sales, while gardening and sports sales also benefited from the sunshine.
Lyn Heighton, interior retail manager at Palmers' Garden Centre, in Enderby, said: "The better the weather, the better we tend to do, but trade has been very good throughout the year and business has been very positive."
Andrew Southerden, landlord at the Coach and Horses pub, in Kibworth, said he took more than a week's takings on the day of the royal wedding.
He said: "All those doubting Thomas's who pooh-poohed the royal wedding are wishing they'd done something now.
"We had 2,000 people come along and had some of them not brought their own food we'd have been sunk.
"We will never turn over that much in a single day again."
Shopper Michael Ives, 19, from Leicester, said: "I do spend a little more because of the sun. People spent more because of the royal wedding because it gave them something to celebrate, something to get out and do."
Bosses at the Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce said that although April's figures were positive.
Managing director Martin Traynor said: "For April they were very positive, which has to be offset by the poor performance in March.
"The reason that April was so buoyant is because Easter is the second largest retail event of the year.
"So even taking into account the figures in March it's been a very positive trading period."
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