Britons, Europe’s biggest chocoholics, were set to have a cracking good time over Easter by splashing out on about 80-million Easter eggs, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said on Good Friday.
A total of £520-million ($910-million) was to be spent on chocolate over the four-day weekend as the BRC forecast that Britons were set to blow £2,8-billion in total on food and drink.
A further £2-billion was set to be spent on DIY and gardening-related items as Britons act out the regular public holiday ritual of swarming to homeware outlets en masse.
BRC director general Kevin Hawkins said: ”Traditionally, gardening and homewares stores do well from the bank holiday weekend, but these figures show it can give a serious boost to sectors such as food and drink and confectionery too.”
One of the most expensive eggs in Britain this Easter is on sale in London’s Piccadilly. The unique Diamond Stella Egg ‒ a chocolate egg laden with diamonds — costs £50 000.
Figures released on Wednesday by market analysts Datamonitor revealed that Britons were the biggest chocoholics in Europe in 2005, munching through an average 10kg per year, followed by the Belgians (8,7kg) and the Germans (8,1kg). ‒ Sapa-AFP