The FINANCIAL -- Latest figures from Barclaycard Global Payment Acceptance, which enables 87,000 retailers to accept debit and credit card payments, shows spending was up 8.5% this year compared to last Easter.

The figures show shoppers spent £205.5m at retailers usually associated with the Easter weekend in 2010 compared to £189.4m over the same weekend in 2009

Eating out was a popular choice with restaurants seeing a 13% increase in card turnover compared to 2009.  Other winners over the weekend included furniture and floor covering stores with spending up at 16.5% and 21.6% respectively.

One of the sectors to miss out was garden centres with debit and credit card spending down 16.8% compared to 2009.  DIY stores, another traditional beneficiary of the Easter weekend saw card spending staying flat with a slight increase of 1.5% on card spend compared to 2009.

Commenting on the data, Stuart Neal, UK Director of Barclaycard Global Payment Acceptance said: “The increase in overall spend is testament to customers wanting to get away or treat themselves over the four day weekend – with a significant increase in restaurants and holiday related activity.  Unfortunately, it looks like garden centres were a victim of the weather with debit and credit card spending down 16.8% compared to 2009”.

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