SHOPS in Southampton were given a major boost by last week’s public sector strikes, the Daily Echo can reveal.

Thousands more shoppers poured through the doors of WestQuay Shopping Centre as schools closed and workers failed to show up for work on Wednesday last week, official figures have revealed.

Nearly 72,000 people flocked to the shopping complex, up 54 per cent on the previous day’s 47,000, and 36 per cent on the same day last year.

The spike came as tens of thousands of teachers, civil servants, council and health workers in Hampshire walked out during a national day of action on November 30 over proposed pension reforms.

Unions admitted that the estimated 2,000 members and supporters who turned out to a rally in Southampton was lower than expected. An official from Unison, which had expected 10,000, blamed the bad weather and child care issues.

Nearly half of the council workforce in Southampton walked out and nine out of ten schools closed.

Southampton council leader Royston Smith said: “It seems very much like people who weren’t at work and mothers that had to stay at home looking after children took the opportunity to go shopping and that it has had a beneficial affect on retail in Southampton.”

WestQuay said while more people were visiting the shopping complex than last year it was difficult to compare last week’s figures as it snowed on December 1 last year.

John Lewis reported sales last week rose 9.6 per year across its department stores, compared to the previous year, hitting £113.6m, although this was boosted by the rise in VAT and snow which deterred shoppers last year.

Andy Collyer, general manager at WestQuay, said: “We have welcomed a huge number of shoppers to WestQuay so far this festive season. We are expecting the next few weeks to be very busy and have seen a promising uplift in both footfall and sales over the last few weekends.”