Truro Cathedral opens Christmas shop during heatwave Published duration 19 July 2013

image caption The shop, which will sell nativity sets, advent calendars and decorations, will be open until Christmas

Climbing temperatures, which triggered a "level three" heatwave warning in the South West, have not put off the opening of a new Christmas shop.

The shop in Truro, Cornwall, will sell nativity sets, decorations and advent calendars.

Leased by Truro Cathedral, it will be opened later by its dean, the Very Reverend Roger Bush.

He admitted it seemed "a bit odd" to have a shop bedecked with Christmas items in the middle of July.

image caption The cathedral denied it was exploiting the commercialisation of Christmas

"We've had a successful Christmas shop within the cathedral for many years and we've found, oddly enough, that during the summer months when we get more visitors, people want to buy good quality Christmas products," he said.

"I know it looks a bit odd, culturally, to have Christmas things in the middle of perhaps the hottest time we've had for many years, but we do believe there is a demand for this."

The dean said opening a High Street shop did not mean the church was exploiting the commercialisation of Christmas.

"I don't think there's anything wrong in being commercial, but we've got to be very careful how we get our message across," he said.