HIGH Street takings for the pre-Christmas period fell for the first time in a decade. A report by national employers' organisation the CBI said sales of household goods, clothing, footwear and DIY items were all lower during a two-week spell to December 18.

But Gwent's retailers are mostly upbeat - despite some stores in Newport reporting a slow start to the festive sales.

Cwmbran Shopping manager Gerry Hutchings said: "We've enjoyed an extremely successful period.

"In the last full week before Christmas we had 380,000 visitors and our free multi-storey car parks recorded 14 per cent more cars than last year."

Explaining the centre's success, Mr Hutchings pointed to the opening of the largest Woolworth's in Wales and a Pizza Hut and KFC.

At Newport indoor market, butcher Tony Turner was equally cheerful. "Trade was better this Christmas than for a long time.

"I just hope people will come in like that for the rest of the year." Mr Turner believes a number of factors contributed to his sales success. "We've had a new floor put in, which has made the market more hygienic and environmentally friendly."

He also believes traditional butchers are attracting more customers as a result of a series of health scares.

"People now want to buy from someone they trust. "We're extremely careful about where we source our meat and people respect that." Jan Macey, of Macey Sports, on Caerleon Road, said: "Christmas wasn't bad at all, although I do think a lot of people are going to Cribbs Causeway, in Bristol, at weekends because they've got so much stuff to get and they can park.

"But we have been picking up a lot of sales during the week." But it was a different story at Newport's Kingsway Centre. As we revealed last month, traders said they were suffering because the Kingsway car park was closed.

Paul Bartlett, of Kingsway News & Cards, said the lack of car-parking facilities near Kingsway is one of the prime reasons why his business is being crippled.

But he added people seemed to be spending less as well: "The type of shopping bags people carry around are an excellent guide to spending patterns.

"This year they were all of the super-value, economy, pound-shop variety - very few quality labels."

Mr Bartlett said his turnover was down 35 per cent on two years ago.