Ref. 14612-19DISAPPOINTING figures from Woolworths have sparked fears that the Christmas sales were again a damp squib.

The high street giant has announced its sales in its 806 main shops in the four weeks up to Saturday had been down 1.5 per cent compared to the previous year.

And there are fears that WH Smith will again have had a bad festive period, as its shares slipped one per cent.

Last year Greenbridge-based WH Smith had such poor Christmas sales it had to issue a profits warning to its shareholders immediately after Christmas.

In the half-year up to February 29 last year its six-monthly profits were down by more than a quarter to £65 million.

In WH Smith's interim results in April last year it announced that 270 jobs were to go in Swindon and London in a bid to save £8.5 million a year.

However, it is hoped that new measures brought in by chief executive Kate Swann will give a rosier picture this time round.

Swindon Chamber of Commerce's chief executive Dennis Grant said the end may be near for the traditional sales season

He said: "Despite the fact that there was a general hope that the tail-end of Christmas would resolve the lower than expected sales, it wasn't anywhere near the level that was hoped for.

"Everyone is pinning their hopes on the New Year sales, but I think people have had enough.

"Electronics did well, because televisions, stereos and MP3 players always do well at this time of year but, on the whole, the rest of shops don't seem to have done."

Mr Grant said that he expected several companies to report disappointing.

He said results from clothing chain Next would be an important pointer as to the general climate, as Next still has a reputation as a store at which people will queue to be early for sales.

Early indications of sales may also not be entirely accurate as shoppers often wait until the New Year before taking unwanted Christmas gifts back to stores, which can lead to refunds and in turn money leaving, rather than going into tills.

Mr Grant said he believes the public may be beginning to tire of the constant sales culture and that scares before Christmas about how much consumers are borrowing, and failing to save, have tightened belts.

He said: "The whole economy has got to stop being based on consumer spending.

"It's that simple. We have used consumer spending as a way of bolstering the economy in the last two years."