Marks & Spencer will have its first UK cherry tomatoes of the season this weekend and earlier than ever before in previous seasons.

The Nectar cherry tomatoes have been grown by the Wight Salads Group in Kent exclusively for M&S and will be available in selected stores only.

The record-breaking crop was planted on Christmas Day by Wight Salads grower, Mike Flux, who says that this is the earliest time of year that fruit has ever been picked from his nursery for any supermarket shelf.

“We have been really pleased with how well the plants have grown, despite the cold weather,” said Flux. M&S’s Peter Ireland says it is the earliest the chain has ever stocked UK toms. “We have been trialling British tomatoes grown under lights this winter on the Isle of Wight,” says Peter Ireland of M&S. “But this is the earliest that summer crops of British tomatoes have ever been on our shelves.

“We are committed to British tomatoes and during the summer around 95 per cent of our tomatoes will be British. This will be backed up with in-store point of sale information to really get the message to our customers that British is best.”

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