Scientists working to create the UK’s first seedless grape are celebrating a success.

The breakthrough was announced following a successful trial at the East Malling Research Centre in New Road.

The project, led by national supermarket chain Asda, will mean the store will be less reliant on imported fruits, and can spend more money supporting independent British farmers.

The trial has been taking place for the last three years and eight varieties of grapes were originally planted – a mixture of red, green and black.

Despite being the first time seedless grapes have been grown in the country, Kent is a well-known wine growing region – with a climate and soil that’s often compared to that found in the Champagne region of France.

"For the first time ever, these new table grapes are exactly what you’d expect to see on the supermarket shelf," Alberto Goldbacher

The supermarket says that at least two varieties of the seedless table grapes can now be grown successfully in UK soil.

Asda sells 1.4 million punnets every week and currently imports the fruit from 15 different countries, including Spain, India and South America.

Category manager Alberto Goldbacher said: “It’s incredibly exciting to be reaping the rewards of this trial, we have tested lots of different varieties of grapes over the last three years and our main problem has been getting the sweetness of the grape right for our customers, as the climate in the UK means we don’t always get the sunshine and light needed for this develop within the grape.

"However, we’ve now seen great promise and are happy to move forward with this trial on a much larger scale.”

He added: “Grapes grown in this county have previously only been suitable for making wine as they’re typically very small, have a thick skin and have a large seed in the middle. For the first time ever, these new table grapes are exactly what you’d expect to see on the supermarket shelf, in both look and taste.”

The East Malling-grown grapes will be harvested between August and October, meaning they’re ready to go on shelf to coincide with the Spanish grape season ending.

The fruit is expected to hit the shelves as early as mid-2016.