RETAILERS were given some Christmas cheer yesterday with figures showing the number of shoppers had risen.

The number of people in shopping centres last week was 8.7 per cent higher than the same time last year.

FootFall, the retail information company that produced the figures, attributed the rise to discount days run by high street chains.

But while shopper numbers were up across the week, Saturday saw a 0.6 per cent fall compared with the same day last year.