A BURY shoe store is helping to spread seasonal good will by collecting unwanted, unworn socks for homeless charities.

Wynsors World of Shoes, in Victoria Street, is inviting customers to declutter their wardrobes by donating any such socks they received as Christmas presents.

The campaign follows research by the retailer finding socks rank among the most unwanted gifts — with eight per cent saying it is the present they would least like to receive.

The average Brit has three unworn pairs of socks at home and 10 per cent of the population has between five and ten pairs that they do not like or need in their sock drawer, the shoe store's research found.

Danny Bergin, spokesperson for Wynsors World of Shoes, said: "Christmas is dubbed the season of goodwill, but from our results it seems that many find the experience to be stressful because of shopping.

"It’s surprising to see just how many presents the typical Brit has at home that are collecting dust. Ranking highly amongst these gifts were a very popular stocking filler, socks.

"Rather than let these socks go to waste, we thought it would be nice to hold a sock amnesty at our stores, across the UK.

"Shoppers can simply clear out their unworn and unwanted socks from their drawer and hand them into to a colleague at our tills.

"We’ll then group these together and gift them to homeless charities who will put these items to good use during the cold Christmas season."