Christine Morgan, assistant store manager at Budgens Moreton in Marsh, puts the first English tomatoes of 2012 on shelf

Christine Morgan, assistant store manager at Budgens Moreton in Marsh, puts the first English tomatoes of 2012 on shelf

Budgens has launched its English tomato season six weeks ahead of usual. Deliveries started this week with classic round Encore in pre-packs of four and 400g Elegance on-the-vine to Budgens stores nationwide.

Kenton Burchell, Budgens head of trading operations said: “Good light levels earlier in the year have meant that this year’s English tomato crop has started early and we anticipate an extended season, through to October. Once again we will be supporting English growers with our commitment to being ‘famous for fresh’, with our English tomatoes coming from our supplier partner IVG White growers in Evesham, who we’ve been supporting for the last 20 years.”

The season has kicked off at the Musgrave group stores with a 50p-off promotion for on-the-vine Elegance tomatoes selling at £2.29 RSP (400g) and classic round English tomatoes selling at £1.49 RSP (4-pack moving to £1 from 19 April).

Budgens’ English tomato season will continue with five other lines being added to the range as the season progresses: loose on-the-vine Elegance, sweet cherry vine Piccolo, baby plum loose, cocktail on-the-vine loose and loose on-the-vine tomatoes. All lines will be on promotion at some point throughout the summer, said Burchell.

The retailer will also British Tomato Week (21-27 May) with dedicated point-of-sale for retailers and sampling opportunities in store for Budgens shoppers to try.