Goes on in London too, or it did until a few years back.
My father had a Hungarian friend who would relieve all the local greengrocers of their over-ripe peaches, apricots and nectarines which he would use as the basis for the most wonderful and potent peach brandy - using a Liebeg's condenser bought from a lab supply store (which made me wonder how many other people bought Liebeg's condensers for nefarious purposes, and why the government never got around to licensing/banning them).