WHEN it comes to forking out for Christmas trees, people in Southampton have to stump up more cash than anyone else in the country.

This year cash-strapped shoppers in Britain are set to pay £150m on real Christmas trees as part of their annual festive spend.

But it’s in Southampton where people will be digging deepest into their wallets to pay for the trees.

A survey showed that people in the city will pay as much as £80 for a tree, with home owners spending an average of £60 for a real 6ft tree.

In the north, people in Leeds and Nottingham spend an average of £40 and £41 to pay for the trees – that is a third cheaper than hard-pressed shoppers have to spend in Southampton.

Overall, figures show that the average British homeowner will pay £48 for a tree – £12 less than what people pay in Southampton.

The survey was carried out by Swedish retailer IKEA and prompted the flatpack giants to offer Nordmann fir trees for £25 this Christmas.

Birgit Hartelius from IKEA, which looked at regional Christmas tree sellers across the UK for the study, said: “There’s something really special about having a real tree in the home during the festive season. But over the years we’ve seen prices rocket to a level that a lot of people just can’t afford.”