Reuters reports that industry data showed that November was the most lucrative month ever for the UK grocery market, with 10.9 billion pounds spent, as out of home eating and drinking was restricted by England's second national lockdown.

Market researcher Kantar said grocery sales rose by 11.3% in the 12 weeks to Nov. 29 year-on-year and were up 13.9% year-on-year in the last four of those weeks.

England's second lockdown to stem rising COVID-19 infections started on Nov. 5 and ran until Dec. 1.

"November as a whole saw shopper frequency hit its highest level since the beginning of the pandemic, suggesting more confidence among people going into stores," said Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar.

Kantar forecast spending would be close to 12 billion pounds in December, around 1.5 billion pounds more than December last year.