The Olympics saw health and beauty sales fall in London, despite a better performance elsewhere in the country, accountancy firm KPMG has reported.

In its monthly sales monitor published in collaboration with the British Retail Consortium, the accountants reported that August health and beauty sales were up overall on 2011, despite the month seeing the worst retail sales growth of the year to date.

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	But while toiletries had a "good month" and sun cream had "benefitted from the sunshine", the capital suffered from fewer shoppers. "It was a tale of London and the rest of the country, with the lower footfall in London compensated for by stronger sales elsewhere," the report said.

"Retailers' hopes that the Olympics would inspire a pick-up in spending were dashed, as shoppers stayed away from the high street and enjoyed the sporting spectacle from their armchairs," said KPMG head of retail Helen Dickinson. The comments came as the Paralympics were coming to an end, with the games due to close on September 9.

Soheb Ganchi, a manager at Vicarage Pharmacy in the Olympic borough of Stratford, said he believed customers had left the city during the games, leading to a sales drop in his pharmacy. "I was expecting more walk-ins and general sales but we didn't see that," he said.