The John Lewis Partnership today reported surging sales for the second week of August, as poor weather sent shoppers into its department stores and led them to seek out comfort food at its Waitrose chain.

Sales of soup rose by 27 per cent at Waitrose, prompted by the cooler weather in the week to August 9, while thrifty Britons continued to stay in to eat, sending turnover from the store's As Good As Going Out range up 43 per cent on last year.

Waitrose also said that sales of meat rose strongly, with lamb up 8 per cent and pork rising by 19 per cent.

It emerged earlier this week that one of the key drivers behind rising UK inflation, which increased to a 16-year high of 4.4 per cent in July, is the surging price of meat and, in particular, pork products.

Compared to last year, eight rashers of bacon is now 43 per cent more expensive at an average £2.58 a packet while the price of pork sausages has risen 31 per cent to an average £1.98, based on prices from mysupermarket.com.

Overall at Waitrose, sales increased by 0.8 per cent. The company said: "The appalling weather contrasted with a hot and dry week during 2007 making direct comparisons difficult."

An improvement in sales was more pronounced at John Lewis, where trade rose by 9.3 per cent, boosted by womenswear and school clothes which the company said points to a "very late surge" for "Back to School" wear this year.

John Lewis also said that trade in consumer electronics, in particular TVs, was strong and in its home directorate operation, sales were boosted by cooking and dining, which customers increased through buying silverware.

Even the Partnership's Peter Jones store in London's exclusive Sloane Square showed signs of improvement after weeks of faltering sales. Trade was still down, at 2.1 per cent but compares well to the previous week's 7.1 per cent fall.

Total sales at the Partnership rose by 4 per cent to £120.7 million.

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