BARGAIN hunters have given traders one of their busiest ever Christmas sales periods.

Brendan Hattam, the manager of the Westgate Centre in Oxford, said the centre experienced its best Boxing Day since shops opened for trading on that day seven years ago.

Shopping centre managers at Bicester Village, and at Marriotts Walk in Witney, also reported brisk trading.

Mr Hattam would not release figures but said: “People were queuing up to get into the centre on Boxing Day and footfall and sales increased by a healthy margin.

“It was the best Boxing Day ever for the Westgate Centre. A couple of national chains had a record Christmas and some of the smaller stores will have benefited from the increased footfall.

“It’s a very encouraging end to the year but we need to be cautious before we take it as an indication that the recession has ended.”

Colin Shone, the manager of Waterstone’s book shop in Broad Street, Oxford, said: “Boxing Day was huge for us, well beyond expectations, and takings were massively up on last year.”

Oxford High Street Association spokesman Graham Jones added: “Traders did pretty well in the High Street in the run-up to Christmas, following patchy trading in November.

Sarah Pearson, director of Broad Street department store Boswell’s, said: “Sales have been buoyant and we are definitely up on last year.”

Miranda Markham, a spokesman for Bicester Village, said trade was down on last year for the fortnight leading up to Christmas Eve, and blamed the bad weather.

However, she added: “Trade after Christmas has been better than last year, with an unprecedented number of overseas visitors.”

Lynne Shawyer, a spokesman for Marriotts Walk, Witney said: “As a new centre, we are pleased that trading has been very busy.”

Nationwide, Boxing Day footfall was up 18.6 per cent on 2008, as shoppers took advantage of discounts before the return of the 17.5 per cent VAT rate on Friday.

affrench@oxfordmail.co.uk