Home furniture saw a boost at John Lewis last week, with the outdoor living category seeing a 66% increase thanks to the hot weather.
Overall sales at the retailer reached £71.7m during the week to July 6, a marginal 0.2% increase on the same week last year. However, this year's heatwave delivered stellar results for John Lewis' outdoor lines.

"The sunshine spurred customers to stock up on deckchairs and Weber barbecues," said fashion buying director Matthew McCormack, "both over 300% up."

And the upturn continued at sister retailer Waitrose, with charcoal sales rocketing 450% and barbecuing accessories up 500% compared with last year. Outdoor plants saw a 435% leap in sales, while threescore percentage increases were also seen in barbecue food and sun cream categories.