HIGH streets are set to experience their busiest day of the year as shoppers flood stores and cram supermarket aisles for last-minute Christmas gifts and provisions.

A third of consumers - 31% - plan to do their main Christmas food shop today, according to a poll of 2,200 people for BBC Good Food.

Waitrose predicts the hour from 11am will be its busiest period, with sales expected to be 3.5 times higher than on a typical Wednesday, with the busiest branch expected to be Oakgrove in Milton Keynes.

Sainsbury's expects its checkouts to hit their peak between 11am and 1pm and Tesco has taken on extra staff to prepare for what it predicts will be its busiest in-store shopping day.

Bluewater Shopping Centre in Kent said it was "Christmas shopping as usual" two days after shoppers were left stranded for up to six hours after heavy traffic blocked car park exits.

Police were called to help clear the backlog when a broken down vehicle and high visitor numbers caused traffic chaos.

A spokeswoman today said: "Traffic is flowing freely and it's Christmas shopping as usual."

Visa Europe predicts that high street spending on its cards will reach £1.3bn, peaking between 1pm and 2pm when 3.2m transactions will take place, making it the biggest shopping day of the year.

Shoppers are expected to make more than 37m transactions, up 10% on last year, while the overall amount spent is predicted to be 3% higher.

Kevin Jenkins, Visa Europe managing director for UK and Ireland, said: ''On December 23, Brits will race to the high street to pick up last-minute presents, despite starting their Christmas shopping early this year with record amounts spent online on Black Friday.

''In keeping with previous years, the busiest day for Christmas shopping this year will be two days before Christmas where we are likely to see £1.3bn spent on the high street.''

''More than £1m will be spent on Visa cards every minute, rising to nearer £2m every minute during the lunch time rush between 1pm and 2pm.

''Shoppers will demand quick and easy purchases during this busy period, and retailers with a contactless offering are likely to be the winners as they could see shorter queuing times and happier customers.''

  • The UK economy grew less than previously thought for much of 2015 as official figures revealed that growth has been revised down for the second and third quarters.

The latest revisions from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that growth was 0.4% in the three months to the end of September, down from the initial estimate of 0.5%.

Growth was also revised down to 0.5% for the quarter to the end of June, from the 0.7% previously recorded.

The ONS data shows that growth was revised down in the third quarter due to a weaker performance from the dominant services sector.

Growth on an annual basis was also revised down in the third quarter, to 2.1% from the 2.3% previous reading.

Britain's economy has now expanded for 11 quarters in a row, but the latest revisions mean expansion in 2015 has been muted, with the year starting with a disappointing slowdown to 0.4% in the first quarter, edging only slightly higher to 0.5% in the second quarter and then dropping back again to 0.4% in the third.