PRUDENT shoppers in East Lancashire saved their pounds for the January sales instead of spending them at Christmas, trading officials confirmed today.

In the weeks up to Christmas, the thriftiness of shoppers left retailers worried as they feared people were saving for the sales.

And although there was in some centres a late rush, the crowds have waited until the clear-outs to grab a bargain.

Raymond Goldstone, president of Blackburn Chamber of Trade, said: "People have relaxed a bit more and are buying what they want now.

"They are still looking round for a bargain but it is fairly buoyant.

"It was a slow run up to Christmas. I do think that people were holding on until the sales started.

"The big stores tried stealing a march on each other by starting sales before Christmas but on the market we have done pretty well and it's still carrying on now."

In Burnley it was a similar picture.

Town centre manager, Lisa Durkin, has figures that monitor how the top 10 retailers in the town, including Next, Woolworths, Argos and Marks and Spencer, fared.

She said: "The majority of retailers are up considerably on the same period last year.

"Some by as much as 15 to 20 per cent but on average it is up around eight per cent.

"I think people were waiting until the sales. They are saying 'I am not going to buy that on Christmas Eve, I may as well wait until the sales' and there are some bargains to be had out there."

She added that the big day for sales shopping was Monday, January 29, when bargain-hunting reached its peak.

In Clitheroe, Judith Hitchen, former president of Clitheroe Chamber of Trade and Commerce, said the sales in the town have attracted people because shoppers know they are genuine.

Judith said: "Because we are all independent shops they are all genuine sales. The goods have been genuinely reduced from before Christmas and give very good value for money."

Sadly, in Nelson it is a different story.

Nicholas Emery, a local businessman who runs Emery Electronics, in Market Square, said: "It makes absolutely no difference whether it's Christmas or New Year.

"You wouldn't know it was Christmas or New Year, it's a permanent sale in Nelson.

"We are all absolutely fed-up and depressed about it.

"We are permanently under-marking all our goods. Nelson used to be the busiest town in our borough but we haven't got the customers coming past the shop since they shut-off the roads."