SUPERMARKET Lidl has claimed it was the "fastest growing supermarket" over Christmas after booking record festive sales.

The German chain, which has a store in Watlington Rd in Oxford, said sales rose 16 per cent in December as it experienced its highest ever footfall.

But it wasn't such good news for M&S, which has been given permission to open a new food hall at Seacourt, Botley, saw its food sales fall.

December 22 marked a record trading day in Lidl UK's history, the group said, while the week before Christmas was its "strongest ever".

However, it did not give a breakdown of like-for-like sales, again ignoring an industry benchmark used by its peers.

Boss Christian Hartnagel said: "Lidl UK has had a fantastic 2017 and this was capped by our strongest Christmas trading period to date."

As the German discounter expands it is expected to solidify its standing as one of the UK's fastest-growing supermarkets alongside fellow German Aldi, increasing the pressure on Britain's Big Four, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons.

Tesco has also emerged as a festive winner after reporting a steep rise in sales over the critical Christmas trading period.

The supermarket giant said UK like-for-like seasonal sales rose by 1.9%, driven by a strong grocery performance.

Tesco saw its biggest ever sales week in the UK over Christmas, with 58 million customer transactions and 770,000 online grocery deliveries in one week.

Elsewhere Marks and Spencer, which plans to open a food and drink store in Botley, has revealed "mixed" festive trading after another steep fall in sales in its embattled clothing arm and disappointing trading in its food halls.

The high street bellwether blamed a tough October for a 2.8% fall in like-for-like clothing and home sales over the 13 weeks to December 30, while it said "ongoing under-performance" in its food arm saw sales fall 0.4%.

But M&S said a pick up in trading over the key Christmas weeks helped make up for a weak clothing market and more difficult trading in its food business.