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WAITROSE, the up-market grocery chain owned by John Lewis, yesterday committed itself to selling only UK-grown cherries for five weeks at the height of the fruit's season.

The chain - which has three stores in Scotland and is opening a fourth at Newton Mearns - will stock only British cherries during July and August.

Imported fruit - from North America, Spain and Turkey - will continue to be used at the start of the season in May and again in late August and September.

But, at the height of the summer, only home-grown cherries will grace the supermarket's aisles, to coincide with peak production in the UK.

Andy Hunt, fruit manager at Hereford-based Lower Hope Fruit, said: "The cherry yield is looking promising for 2011.

"Although blossom is a good indication of a good crop of succulent cherries, it's actually the cold winter, like the one we've just had, that provides the best start for a crop.

"Cherries benefit from cold winters because stone fruit need to reach a threshold of chill units to achieve strong blossom."

Waitrose fruit buyer Nicki Baggott said she hoped the supermarket chain would increase its cherry sales five-fold this summer and would establish the fruit alongside existing British success stories, such as raspberries and strawberries.