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The Christmas shopping sales figures released today by the British Retail Consortium pretty much confirm what most involved in the sector know already; low consumer confidence as a result of economic conditions, compounded by the chaos caused by the snow, has sorely tested the UK's shopping locations.

As reported on EGi this morning, the BRC's figures show that like-for-like sales dropped by 0.3% in December 2010, compared with December 2009, with large, non-food items being hit the hardest.

But despite the backdrop, a trawl of the web reveals that plenty of occupiers and landlords across the UK have managed to buck the trend. Here's a round-up:

• Retail Week reports that Sainsbury's emerged from the festive period as the winner among the 'big four' grocers, with the grocery sector clocking in with growth of 5.1% in the six weeks to December 26.
• The BBC, meanwhile, reports that high street favourite Marks & Spencer's Christmas sales were up 2.8% year-on-year in the last three months of 2010, showing that it is not all doom-and-gloom for the UK's major retail occupiers. That said, The Guardian reports that Debenham's lost £30m in sales as a result of the snow chaos. 

Rain is drizzling down the windows of EG Towers and the skies above are a distinct hue of grey. Summer, it seems, is over.

But try telling that to Neptune Developments, which has today issued an ice-cream-based press release, which, bizarrely, includes mention of the bodily functions of an Asian mammal.

The firm has announced that "the world's first Mersey Mussel-flavoured ice cream, washed down with a £50-a-cup coffee will be on the menu" at its £60m revival of the Wirral seaside resort of New Brighton.

To explain, Birkenhead-born businessman David Dooley has signed up to open a branch of his coffee and ice cream parlour, Cappuccinos, at the scheme.  

Dooley promises that the outlet will sell some frankly outlandish-sounding flavours. As well as Mersey Mussel, chilli and bacon-and-eggs flavours will also be on the menu.

Finally, a bit of good news for High Street UK.

Cushman & Wakefield's latest findings show that the number of empty shops blighting Britain's major shopping drags has fallen below 10% for the first time in 18 months.

Indeed, average retail availability across Britain's high streets has fallen from 11.1% back in May to 9.8% this month.

C&W puts it down to the increasing lack of retailer administrations (Retail Week recently reported that Q1 2010 saw the lowest number of administrations for four years) coupled with stronger operators expanding their market share. The findings hardly reveal a robust shopping scene, but compared with the retail bloodbath of the last couple of years, agents must be breathing a huge sigh of relief.

Click on the following file to see the figures behind the findings: Retail availability.xls

Metro Bank's opening today on the corner of High Holborn and Southampton Row has created quite a media furore, not least because of its 'dog's welcome' stance. And from EG Tower's HQ in Holborn we've had a prime viewing spot of the opening of the first branch of the UK's first new bank for over a century. 

The old stalwarts of the banking world obviously weren't in the mood to indulge the new kid, and Barclay's Bank had employed its own guerrilla tactics.

Alongside Metro bank's dixie band, the complimentary shoe shine and ladies on stilts were Barclay's horse guards and a town crier handing out their own freebies.

We'll be keeping a beady eye on how things go for Metro bank, not just because it has aggresive expansion plans for 200 stores that might keep a few agents busy for some time. But it will be interesting to see how a bank, who's prime selling point is being open 7 days a week, fares having its first branch on a corner in Holborn which isn't known for its bustling weekend trade.

And if you're in the mood for a bit of Dixieland then there's also a short video from outside the bank on our Flickr page.