Fashion retailers suffered a shopper drought as the hottest weekend in British history floored consumers.
High street barometer John Lewis Partnership revealed that sales dipped by a quarter last Saturday as the mercury bubbled to more than 100 degF.
Retail operations director Gareth Thomas said a week of depressed trading reached a nadir that day, when business slumped 26 per cent.
Thomas said: 'We are no more affected than anyone else, so pure clothing retailers must be having a difficult time. Our merchandise offer is broad, so people can still find something of interest even in this sort of weather.'
Britain's Homer Simpson-like response to the heatwave continued to benefit the grocers - Tesco sold 1 million extra cases of lager last weekend and drafted in 500 extra lorries to replenish ice cream stocks.
According to SPSL, last Sunday, the hottest day on record, shopper traffic was down 7.1 per cent on the previous Sunday - itself down 18.4 per cent week-on-week.
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