LONDON’s West End has experienced an extraordinary summer spending boom fuelled by rich international shoppers who enabled it to defy the credit crunch that has hit the rest of the country.

According to the tracker firm Springboard, shopper footfall in the West End, which includes Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bond Street, increased by 2.5% in August compared with a decrease of 8.5% nationally. Last month some 6.4m people visited the area each week.

West End stores proved popular with shoppers from areas more immune to the credit crunch - particularly the oil-rich nations of the Middle East as well as Russia and Nigeria.

Attracted by London’s milder weather and the chance to snap up tax-free luxury goods, international shoppers from outside the European Union flocked to the West End.

Selfridges department store reported waiting lists for many items in its “Wonder Room”, a 19,000 sq ft space dedicated to luxury items and other precious gifts, including a Vertu phone costing £32,000, and a Swarovski crystal encrusted iPod made by the designer Bling-my-Thing and starting at £200. Other popular items include a Tag Heuer mobile phone with crocodile-skin backing costing £2,900.

Jace Tyrrell at New West End Company, which represents the area’s 600 retailers, said: “Shoppers from the oil-rich economies of the UAE, Russia and Nigeria have boosted the fortunes of many of the West End’s retailers during the preRamadan boom in August.”

Tax-free sales to international shoppers in the West End rose 5% in August on the previous year, according to Global Refund, the tax-free shopping group.

The average amount spent by international shoppers increased by 27%, up on average by £656 per transaction. Spending by visitors from the United Arab Emirates was up 86%.

Shoppers from other countries also spent more. Nigel Dasler of Global Refund said: “This was further substantiated by shoppers from other oil-rich countries such as Russia, [whose spending] was up 73% in London’s West End.”

Bond Street experienced a particularly strong month. Popular goods included the Python Darcy handbag with lizard-skin handles at the luxury-goods company Asprey, which cost £2,200. Bruce Dundas, managing director, said: “This summer we saw significantly higher numbers of Middle Eastern visitors. June, July and August saw extremely healthy sales.”

French jeweller and watchmaker Cartier reported strong performance at its Bond Street store: “Sales were very healthy at Cartier on Bond Street and we have had a good year to date. The fact that we have doubled the size of our boutique on Bond Street in the past 12 months is a testament to that,” said Arnaud Bamberger, managing director of Cartier UK.

Michael Wainwright, managing director of Boodles, one of Britain’s oldest fine jewellers, said: “Our Bond Street store has outperformed all our other stores across the UK . We are principally selling to British people but we are actively targeting Russians.”

Bond Street, Oxford Street and Regent Street form the largest concentration of retailers in Europe. About 200m visitors come to London’s West End and spend £5.8 billion annually - 50% are tourists and 50% local visitors.

Times Recommends

• Lies and cover-up at MG Rover exposed by report
• High oil prices push manufacturing costs up
• Primark founder steps down as chief executive