IT'S enough to make you walk out.

As if spending hours trawling around the shops is not bad enough at this time of year, the last thing you need is Slade's Merry Christmas Everybody belting out of every store.

That is is the feeling of bosses at electrical retailer Dixons, who have banned the Slade song, along with Wizard's I Wish It Could Be Christmas, from their festive play lists. A company survey found 80 per cent of shoppers cited the glam rock tunes as the most annoying, with Cliff Richard's Mistletoe and Wine a close third.

Chris Langley, managing director of Dixons, said people were "sick and tired" of hearing the songs and they would be restricting their play lists to carols and popular carols, such as White Christmas.

But yesterday, North-East shopping centres defended the two tunes, saying they were an integral part of Christmas.

Albion Small, manager of the Cornmill Shopping Centre in Darlington which plays orchestral Christmas tunes, said: "Everybody expects to hear Slade at Christmas because they've been around so long. I think a lot of the emphasis on banning is probably due to the staff hearing them all day."

Staff at McArthur Glen Designer Outlet, in York, believe the more Christmas tunes the better. "We welcome them all - we haven't banned any," said a spokesman.

And Suzanne Heron said for for North Eastern Co-op: "Slade and Wizard are as traditional as the Christmas carols.