Consternation in Cheshire today as the pickled egg shortage which has already blighted Lancashire, West Yorkshire, Merseyside, and Greater Manchester spreads its ugly wings southwards.
Pickled hard-boiled eggs have long been a staple snack for the pub-going populace, with the grey/black vinegar sodden delicacy consistently beating out pork scratchings and crisps as essential pub fodder.
Shortages were first reported in Blackburn, Lancashire, and Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. Nobody seems to quite know why the delicacy has suddenly become scarce, but wholesalers report that they can't get pickled eggs for love or money, and pub bars seem strangely empty without the big jars of pickled eggs which once so gracefully adorned them.
It appears that the shortage spread rapidly, and without warning throughout north west England and is inexplicably spreading to Cheshire. The new coalition government is said to be carefully monitoring the situation, and to be considering the appointment of a pickled egg czar, who will probably be Carol Vorderman off Countdown, according to sources.
Pickled egg aficionados in the Midlands and Cumbria say that their stocks remain relatively stable for the time being, but that they have contingency plans in place.
So far, there have been few casualties generated by the pickled egg shortage, although reports are filtering through of a middle-aged woman from Bingley collapsing in a pub on learning that it had sold out of pickled eggs.
We tried to speak to egg pickler Eli Pledge, of Pledge's Purer Pickles but were informed that he was a fictional character played by Jimmy Jewell in an old ITV sitcom, which also featured Joe Gladwyn, alias Wally Batty out of Last Of The Summer Wine. As a pickler.
More as we get it
