As temperatures continued to soar in the UK this week English apple growers kept their fingers crossed that fruit would not suffer from scorching.

Adrian Barlow, chief executive of English Apples & Pears said that so far scorching had not manifested itself, but if conditions continued it might become a race to pick Discovery. The harvest should be in by August 23.

Early fruit is already in the shops, heralding a season which is 10 days earlier than last year, with a 25 per cent heavier crop of 3,500-4,000 tonnes.

"Several multiples have indicated that they will be promoting English fruit using point-of-sale rather than price," he added.

The high temperatures are advancing all other top-fruit varieties. "Where available growers are using irrigation," Barlow said.

He stressed that the Cox crop, which is due to start over the next few weeks, has as yet been unaffected.

However, he confirmed that if the record-breaking heatwave continues over a long period there are likely to be "complications with colour".

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