The CBI distributive trades survey's sales balance dropped to +19 from a four-month high of +49 hit in September, the lowest balance since April and the biggest one-month fall in the index since February.

The expected sales balance for November also fell sharply to +24 from the level of +51 which stores had expected for October.

"Growth in sales and orders for high street retailers remains resilient, but there has been a slight slowdown in the pace of that growth following a strong September," CBI director of economics Rain Newton-Smith said.

(Reporting by David Milliken, editing by Andy Bruce)