Worrying prediction for city's consumer sector

The report, by law firm Irwin Mitchell and the Centre for Economics and Business Research, looked at GVA growth and job creation in the consumer sector.

It found that Portsmouth’s consumer sector experienced the largest contraction in the UK in Q4 2017 and that it was also expected to be the worst city in terms of growth in the final months of this year.

Bournemouth and Southampton’s consumer sectors are among the fastest growing in the UK with Bournemouth’s consumer sector being the ninth fast-growing in the UK in Q4 2017 with a year-on-year GVA growth rate of 2.6 per cent, while Southampton was ranked 12th with consumer sector GVA growth of 2.4 per cent across the same period.

Hannah Clipston, partner at Irwin Mitchell’s Southampton office, said: ‘This latest report makes very positive reading for both Southampton and Bournemouth, but hints at a more worrying situation for the sector in Portsmouth.’