Tesco : Welsh grower delivers earliest ever British strawberries

22 Feb 2018

A welsh fruit grower has broken the record for picking the earliest ever British strawberries and getting them on supermarket shelves.

Tesco's Bridgend Extra store will today (February 22) begin selling the first strawberries of the season, which were grown by Springfield Nursery, based near Cowbridge in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales.

Tesco strawberry buyer Jordan Blandford said:

'Hats off to Springfield who have achieved this fantastic coup with their expertise and innovation. There is always a lot of excitement about the first British strawberries being picked because their arrival means the start of spring is not too far away.

This is brilliant news for customers as British strawberries are considered to be among the best in the world, thanks to our great growing conditions.'

This year's production at Springfield will result in around 500 tonnes of strawberries, or the equivalent of about a million punnets, and the supply of Welsh strawberries will last until late autumn.

The strawberry variety being grown is called Favori and has been chosen for its superb eating quality and flavour. It has a vivid colour and produces large berries that are not too crunchy.

Tesco is also set to begin selling strawberries grown in Essex from this weekend.

Tesco's Jordan Blandford added:

'From the first week of March we will also have strawberries grown in Lancashire, with Berkshire and Kent following after that.'

ENDS

Notes to editors

Tesco has worked with Springfield Nursery for five years to bring customers fantastic quality produce.

These are the earliest British strawberries on supermarket shelves since 2007, when strawberries grown in Kent went on sale on 26 February.

Other traditional UK early season growers are from Kent, Sussex, and Lancashire.