LIVERPOOL’S St John’s shopping centre attracted 100,000 more shoppers in the six months to June, despite static footfall levels across the rest of the Land Securities retail portfolio.

The property giant, which owns St John’s and adjacent Clayton Square shopping centre, reported “sound progress” in an update yesterday.

It registered good interest in its London portfolio and its retail sites around the country, despite concerns over the weak economy.

Chief executive Francis Salway said: “The outlook for development in London remains attractive and, despite the mixed messages in the retail sector, our leasing activity demonstrates that the stronger retailers are looking to take new space.

“This retail demand has meant we have, over the past few months, also begun to step up our activity in retail development, predominantly in edge- of-town locations, and we now have a £275m, 1m sq ft pipeline of opportunities to meet the growing demand from food and fashion retailers for space.”

However, the update revealed that footfall across its retail centres was flat. But, at St John’s, footfall for the six months to June this year was 5.3m, compared with 5.2m in the same period in 2010.

James Larmuth, Land Securities’ portfolio manager, said it proves “that our retail offer is still a major draw on the Liverpool high street”.

He added: “However, we’re operating in a difficult economic environment, so we have to remain resilient and now, more than ever, is the time to get the basics right, which is exactly what we’ve done.”

“The high street may be busy, but every pound in the consumer purse has to work much harder. So we’re listening to our customers and working hand-in-hand with retailers more now than ever to ensure we deliver the right deals to bring value brands, such as Aldi and Home Bargains, into the scheme.”

Liverpool stockbroker Panmure Gordon retained its “hold” call on Land Securities’ stock.