Department store chain says brisk trading and Father’s Day spending lead to its best performance of the first half so far and a long-awaited increase in homeware sales.
Sales at John Lewis were up 2.2% for the 20th week to June 20, 2009, delivering what the group described as its "best week of the half so far".

The star of the show was the Trafford branch up 16.9%, closely followed by Cambridge, up 9.9% and Cheadle, which experienced a 7.5% boost.

Home was down just 5.7% - an improving result on recent weeks where sales have dropped as low as -9% and -13.8% on last year's trade figures.

Outdoor living also performed well with sales up 8%, while gifts and accessories were in the lead with a 23.7% increase.