M&S says fuel costs hitting out-of-town shopping

LONDON (Reuters) - Marks and Spencer boss Stuart Rose said on Wednesday there were growing signs that rising petrol prices are changing the way Britons shop, with fewer people prepared to drive to out-of-town retail parks.

"There's no doubt about it that the demographics of food shopping are changing," he told analysts on a conference call.

"My corner shop, where I've got a cottage in Suffolk, is having a record time because people don't want to drive into Ipswich and they're seeing customers they've never seen before."

"Equally, if you go to places like Bluewater, we're seeing very, very significant drops in customers because they don't want to drive there," he said, referring to the giant shopping centre on the eastern edge of London.

Rose's comments chime with the latest retail trends survey from Experian, which showed a 2.6 percent fall in shopper numbers in June from the same month last year, and a 5.8 percent drop to out-of-town destinations.

(Reporting by Mark Potter; Editing by Quentin Bryar)