UK retail sales sentiment showed a notable improvement in July, although it remained firmly in contractionary territory, according to the latest CBI Distributive Trades Survey. The survey’s headline balance rose to -26 in July 2026, up from a sharply negative -54 recorded in June 2026.
The July reading suggests that while retailers are still reporting falling sales on balance, the pace of the downturn has eased since the previous month. The move from -54 to -26 points to a less severe deterioration in trading conditions across the sector, but does not yet signal a return to growth. The updated data were released on 27 July 2026, providing a more recent snapshot of sentiment in the UK’s distributive trades sector at the start of the second half of the year.
