WINCHESTER has had yet another bumper year in trading after consumers in their thousands flocked to the city.

Locals and tourists alike descended on the tourist hotspot for ‘The Perfect Christmas’, drawn in by the annual Christmas market, spending thousands on festive trinkets and traditional yuletide food.

For Winchester High Street, trading rose from last year with the total footfall increasing from 346,899 in 2013 to 355,584 in 2014, from December 1-24, for both the upper and lower parts of town.

The Square proved to be one of the most popular parts of the city as numbers jumped by 22.6 per cent for the same period from the previous year to 75,937 visitors during December.

Christmas sales also drew in a large number of visitors seeing 101,432 people descend on the city from Boxing Day to January 4 – an increase of 8.2 per cent on 2013 for both the upper and lower High Street.

The Square saw a small increase from 2013, of 5.2 per cent, with the number of visitors increasing from 16,903 to 17,780.

Winchester BID manager Catherine Turness said: “What’s interesting about the High Street figure is that up until December 20 it was showing a small decrease of 0.5 per cent.

"Adding the last four days in before Christmas, it now shows a positive figure, meaning that lots of people did leave their shopping to the last minute!

“It’s encouraging to see that our national Christmas campaign – The Perfect Christmas, coordinated in partnership with Winchester Cathedral and jointly promoted by Winchester City Council – has had a positive effect with an increase in footfall of 6.5 per cent in December in the High Street compared with last year, and areas of the main thoroughfare are also showing favourable figures.”

She added: “Of course we won’t know how or if this increase has impacted sales until we receive feedback through our Business Barometer but, speaking with a few of our members, retailers tended to trade favourably during weekdays and then this would switch to the hospitality trade at the weekend when visitors from organised coach tours were at their highest.

“The Perfect Christmas campaign will continue in 2015 and we’ll strive to work with our members to ensure they make the most of the marketing exposure.”

Several stores reported bumper Christmas sales with one stating 2014 had been its best year yet.

Childhood’s Dream Ltd co-owner, Susan Whyman, said it had been a record year for the Brooks-based shop with a rise of 17 per cent in sales on the fourth quarter from the same period last year.

Simon Barwood, media and communications officer for Winchester Cathedral, said it was too early to reveal this year’s takings the success of the market was largely owed to its corporate partners.

“Partly as a result of some favourable weather, but also down to some excellent partnerships, notably with the city council and Winchester BID, footfall has seemed to be higher across the city and there have been more skaters at the Cathedral rink than in past years,” he said.

“Those partnerships, the resultant planning and some improvements to the look and feel of the Cathedral Close, have seen visits managed and spread throughout the week, and at less busy times.”