SCOTLAND’s economy has been given a boost by last week’s heatwave with retailers all over the country reporting higher sales as a result of the hot weather.

With temperatures soaring, sales of ice-cream, barbecues and garden plants all rocketed as sun-starved Scots lapped up the warm weather.

Supermarkets reported a rush on barbecues, salad and food for the grill.

Tesco said demand for barbecue foods had been high with fresh fruit as well as ice-cream and ice lollies also flying off the shelves.

While the final tally has not yet been calculated the store said sales around the UK were expected to top eight million sausages, two million burgers, 1.5 million tubs of ice-cream, 25m bottles and cans of beer and one million bottles of wine over the course of the week.

High sales of summer dresses, sunglasses and hats are also expected to be recorded.

Morrisons in Aberdeen reported they were running low on disposable barbecues although official sales figures have not yet been released for their Scottish stores.

Meanwhile in Inverness, which has enjoyed good weather for the last few weeks, Miele’s Gelateria said ice-cream sales were up with “queues out the door nearly every day”.

It was a similar story in Largs where the well-known Nardini’s was mobbed at the weekend.

“We had a particularly good day on Saturday,” said a spokesperson. “When the sun shines everyone seems to head for Largs. It was great because it had quietened down after the school holidays so it was a nice boost.”

Garden centres also saw a welcome increased footfall after suffering from the poor weather earlier this month.

“It’s been very, very busy – even today although the weather isn’t quite so good,” said a spokeswoman yesterday at Dobbies in Edinburgh.

Colin Barrie of Caulders Garden centres said the heatwave, although brief, had been a good boost while it lasted.

Weather affects garden centres so much that when you get decent weather at this time of year it makes a huge difference,” he said. “It has been a very difficult spring for all garden centres up and down the country with them reporting sales well down in April and we are no exception to that.’’

However, the heatwave may have been a brief respite from the recent harsh weather with more frost and wintry showers predicted this week.

Temperatures are forecast to drop dramatically by the middle of the week as cooler air heads towards Scotland.

Forecasters say snow could fall on higher ground while temperatures could plummet to -2 or -3C in some parts.

“It will be quite a lot colder from the middle of the week for the west and northwest,” explained Leon Brown, chief forecaster at The Weather Channel.