Bradford shoppers have hit back at a survey which claimed Yorkshire folk have a "Bah, Humbug!" approach to Christmas.

The research revealed that Tykes were more likely to be miserable Scrooges at Christmas than people in other parts of the country.

The poll by Christmas pudding maker Matthew Walker, which surveyed 1,000 people, showed only 15 per cent of Yorkshiremen would give Christmas ten out of ten for enjoyment.

But yesterday seasonal shoppers in the city centre said people across the district do get involved when it comes to Christmas, especially people with children.

Mark Bradley, Bradford-based author and customer services expert, said Yorkshire people weren't scrooge-like.

He said: "There is certainly a dour pragmatism about Yorkshire folk, but it's something which, privately, I suspect, they're happy about. I don't think Yorkshire people are miserly or Scrooge-like at Christmas. They can just see a lot of the superficial nonsense a lot more clearly than the rest of us and aren't afraid to tell it like it is."

The survey said the biggest lovers of the festive season were in the North East, with 41 per cent giving Christmas full marks for enjoyment, but fewer than one in five in the South East loved Christmas.

Bill McCormack, operations manager at Bradford's Kirkgate Centre, said nationally there had been a 2.7 per cent downturn in Christmas shopping, but the Kirkgate's footfall figure had increased by 3.3 per cent.

He said: "Yorkshire people get involved in Christmas and if I look at our footfall figures we are up on last year's figures."

Around 350,000 shoppers visited the centre between Saturday, December 10, and Sunday, December 16, and the number of cars in the car park indicated this figure was likely to increase.

"People in Bradford are spending and joining in with Christmas. We have carol singers in the centre, and people always join in and sing.

"So I say "Bah, Hum- bug!" to the survey," he said.

But another survey, by KPMG, show- ed that York- shire folk still had an eye for a bargain even at Christmas.

Up to 85 per cent of shoppers either reducing their budgets or spending the same as last year.

The survey, by YouGov, found Tykes were now expecting to buy discounted goods without needing to wait for bargains.

Of the 73 per cent who had done some Christmas shopping by the first week in December, nearly three quarters had bought discounted or promotional items.

The Confederation of British Industry's December Distributive Trades Survey revealed on Wednesday that retailers across the country had recorded the weakest sales growth in more than a year during the critical first fortnight of the build-up to Christmas.

And firms were pessimistic about their fortunes in the New Year, with the balance of retailers expecting sales in January to be down on a year ago.