A Babycham revival could be on the cards.
Celebrities like pop princess Lily Allen have been drinking the perry, and the Duchess of Cornwall reportedly insisted recently that Prince Charles should try a drop.
Tesco is already selling around 3,000 cases a week compared with only 1,000 a year ago, and researchers forecast perry sales will rise by around 5% between 2006 and 2011.
The trend to perry follows the recent cider boom which some critics claim could now be running into trouble following two profit warnings from C&C, who fuelled the trend with Magners Original.
All eyes will be on S&N's interim results on Tuesday to see how the recent poor weather has hit its cold, or over-ice, sales. The company already has plans to promote cider over-ice as an all-seasons drink to avoid over-reliance on warm summers.
But JD Wetherspoon chief executive John Hutson reckons there has been little sign of a cider dip at his chain, with demand up more than 50% over the last two years. He believes C&C could just be "feeling the pressure" from rivals who have copied their over-ice concept.
The Independent on Sunday 05/08/07 (Business) page 4
The Sunday Telegraph 05/08/07 (Business) page 10
