Shopkeepers' fears have eased after Ilkley customers started spending again in the run up to Christmas.

The festive shopping period normally begins in October and builds steadily to a Christmas Eve rush.

But up until two weeks ago all the signs were that shoppers were buying less for the festive period than in previous years.

Figures by the Office for National Statistics showed November was a slow month for spending, especially in non-food shops.

Fortunately sales in the last fortnight have increased with people buying more gifts, calming the worries of Ilkley shopkeepers.

Press spokesman for Ilkley Business Forum David Giddings said: "In the last two weeks, sales have started to pick up and it's been very busy. Up to that point it had been a very steady year.

"I think the possibility of war was in the back of people's minds."

Mr Giddings, who also co-owns Opulent Designs on The Grove said sales in traditional presents had increased.

"Fun things are selling more. People are buying soft toys for kids, jewellery, picture frames, all those kind of things."

Proprietor of Olicana Stationers Iain Whitaker agreed. He said: "We've had a steady flow through from September, but I will say Christmas has been later this year."

He believes the late start is because over the past twelve months customers have put money into areas they would not have normally. "The reason it's slower is because of a shortage of money or because people do a lot of buying but start earlier - shopping patterns change every year," he said.

"They have spent more money on having good holidays because the climate here was lousy. And property prices have increased so much that people have spent money in equity."

However Mr Whitaker is pleased with how sales have gone so far, and is looking to next year to improve further.

He said: "The whole of this year has been tough, but we're a little bit up on last year. Generally sales have not increased enormously but most businesses have maintained their levels or are slightly up on last year. Hopefully January will be strong."

But other traders warned it was too soon to judge whether there had definitely been an increase in spending.

Julian Martinez, owner of Martinez Fine Wines on The Grove, believes it is too early to say if there was a pre-Christmas boom, and that business owners needed more time to work out the real effects.

"Sometimes you can be falsely convinced by the environment, when you really have to work out the value of spending per head. You can have less footfall but they may spend more," he said. "It really is too early to try to analyse any figures."