Some High Street chains started offering price discounts as early as mid-November, in a bid to challenge slow sales.

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"The fall in the core rate... might be the first real sign that the weakness of households' spending power is starting to bear down on underlying price pressures in the High Street, " said Jonathan Loynes of Capital Economics.

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Julie Palmer, partner at the company, said many consumers were browsing in high street stores before finding the product they want for a better price on the internet.

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But a growth of price-point retailers tends to degrade the quality of the High Street offering, which results a general, area-wide fall in rents.

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And even when a hot new title comes out, High Street shops find that their profit margins are under threat from supermarkets offering cut-price deals.

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Staff get 33 holidays including bank holidays and other benefits like free bus travel for themselves and their immediate families, reduced price train travel around the UK and access to discounts at some high street shops and leisure destinations.

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These, he believes, have taught investors, Wall Street analysts and energy company executives to expect price volatility and greet predictions of permanently high energy prices skeptically.

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The authorities also say there have been "significant price increases" in alcohol sold in parliamentary bars, which are "now comparable to high street pubs".

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