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Same store sales, comparing sales at stores in Britain that have been in place for two years or more, dropped 0.03 percent from April to June, the Times of London reported Tuesday.

Retail sales spiked in May, growing 4.6 percent compared with 2007, but the figure was "the start-of-summer blip", British Retail Consortium director-general Stephen Robertson told the Times.

Grocery bills for the average U.K. family have risen 20 percent in the past 12 months, reducing discretionary budgets by more than $2,000 for the average family, the Times reported.

"If sales are only held up by essential items such as food, this indicates a noticeable weakening in discretionary spending", economist Philip Shaw of Investec said.

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