...BUT SHOPPERS KEEP SPENDING

Brits’ appetite for sausage rolls and sofas is holding up, but food prices are soaring, figures out yesterday showed.

Bakery chain Greggs reported a 5% rise in sales for the 13 weeks to the end of September.

As well as sausage rolls and pasties, its breakfasts, salads and soup are proving a big hit.

Meanwhile, settee chain ScS announced profits rose 10% to £12million in the year to August, with sales up 4.4% to £349m.

And iconic motorcycle maker Triumph revealed record global sales, with more than 63,000 bikes built at its factories in Hinckley, Leicestershire and Thailand.

However, these successes come amid further evidence of high street price hikes. Food jumped 2.2% year on year in September, up sharply from 1.3% in August to the highest level in almost four years.

Helen Dickinson, head of report author the British Retail Consortium, said: “A global milk shortage has pushed up butter prices, while rising global cereal prices earlier in the year are now feeding onto shop shelves.”

Non-food prices are still falling.