UK's John Lewis weekly sales down 14 percent -paper

LONDON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - British retailer John Lewis Partnership's [JLP.UL] department store sales fell 14 percent year-on-year in the week to Nov. 15, The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported on Tuesday.

"The consumer has been well and truly spooked. We have seen a step-change down in sales in the past week," John Lewis said, according to the paper.

Employee-owned John Lewis, which also operates Waitrose supermarkets and is seen as a barometer of British retail spending, was not immediately available for comment on what would be its department stores' ninth consecutive weekly fall.

Many British retailers are struggling as consumers cut back on spending or turn to discounters amid rising unemployment and falling house prices as the country enters recession.

John Lewis said last Friday its department store sales fell 9.7 percent in the week to Nov. 8, to leave them 1.9 percent lower over the past 15 weeks. However, an 0.6 percent rise at Waitrose supermarkets meant total group sales were down 4.1 percent on the week and 0.1 percent lower over the 15 weeks. (Reporting by Dan Lalor; editing by Carol Bishopric)