Family-owned supermarket operator Booths has announced its best-ever Christmas results.

The retailer, which has a store in Ilkley, saw total like-for-like sales rise by more than six per cent, including sales on December 23 which were the best in its 166-year history.

Booths said the sales increase was due to factors including customers planning ahead, selecting the best quality products and using its reserve and collect service.

Chairman Edwin Booth said launching its seasonal marketing campaign early with a 180-page ‘Christmas Book’ containing Christmas lines had inspired customers to plan ahead and order early, resulting in a pre-order sales increase of 22 per cent.

The Christmas Book followed the introduction of the Booths Card last summer which had resulted in 60 per cent of pre-orders coming from card holders. Online orders increased by a third over 2012.

Mr Booth said: “Sales of premium turkeys and geese were robust. Alongside this, we achieved good growth in sales of alternative Christmas dinners like venison, Herdwick mutton (up 38 per cent ) and three-bird roasts (up 65 per cent).

“People come to Booths for the best, they trust our quality and our commitment to find the very best suppliers that are producing exceptional food.”

Booths also reflected the growth of craft breweries, including Ilkley Brewery whose beers it stocks locally, and real ale sales were up 27 per cent. “We have a canny Northern consumer base that keep us on our toes in terms of service, price and quality. They expect the best from Booths, and this Christmas we delivered just that,” added Mr Booth.

Marks & Spencer, led by former Morrisons boss Marc Bolland, is expected to reveal the results of a tough season when it reports tomorrow and there will be keen interest in Morrisons festive trading figures as it prepares to start online grocery sales this month.

Meanwhile, a surge in demand for second-hand jewellery over Christmas helped Britain’s biggest pawnbroker to weather crashing gold prices as high street sales leapt higher.

H&T Group, which includes a branch in James Street, Bradford, saw buoyant trade over the festive quarter, with like-for-like sales rising 56 per cent in the last three months of the year and gross profits up 18 per cent.

Its closest rival, Albemarle & Bond, which has Herbert Brown outlets in Bradford and Keighley, has been forced to put itself up for sale after dire trading caused by the slump in prices and rising competition in a sector that has more than doubled in size over the past five years.

H&T is among potential buyers that have formally lodged interest in acquiring Albemarle.

The slump in gold prices led H&T to shut down its 55-strong Gold Bar chain at the end of the summer after group-wide half-year profits slumped 39 per cent to £14.8 million. It also plans to close a further five loss-making stores from its main estate over the year ahead.