Warburtons held onto its place as the second-highest selling brand in the UK after Cola-Cola in an annual grocery survey, reported the Press Association.

The bakers sales climbed 1.5 per cent to £742.4 million, followed by Walkers crisps at £590.9 million, up 4.2 per cent.

Sales of Coca-Cola were up 8.3 per cent last year to £1,090.4 million, according to figures compiled for The Grocer magazine's Britain's 100 Biggest Brands annual survey.

Coca-Cola's top placing follows it cutting back its UK range to just Coke, Diet Coke and Coke Zero over the past two years in response to the weakened economy.

The Robert Wiseman dairies Black and White range was the brand to grow the most, up 19.1 per cent to £156.5 million in sales, taking it to 36th place.

The Grocer editor Adam Leyland said: "You mess with a winning formula at your peril. And the perilous economy has persuaded many of Britain's biggest brands to play it safe, most notably Coca-Cola, the biggest of them all."