John Lewis sales suffer in the heat

Retailer John Lewis said department store sales jumped by more than 13%

John Lewis sales have returned to negative territory after hot weather and sporting events overshadowed the start of its summer clearance.

The department store chain's sales fell 3.7% to £51 million in the week to Saturday, following an improvement of 2.2% in the previous seven days.

John Lewis said it had been a good week given distractions caused by tennis, rugby and the weather at the start of its summer sale on Saturday.

A handful of stores improved on the opening day of the clearance period last year, with Newcastle up 11%, Solihull ahead 4% and Norwich 2% stronger.

The weather had the opposite impact at Waitrose after the grocery arm of the John Lewis Partnership reported a 10.1% rise in sales over the week.

Sales of quiches were up by 28%, with continental meat sales ahead 20% and purchases from the olive bar up 29% on the same week a year earlier.