People across the country have been preparing for Jubilee parties, lunches and celebrations this week but, as the long bank holiday weekend gets under way, some have left it to the last minute to buy clotted cream - and now they can't find it anywhere. Extending shopping trips to make visits to six, seven, eight and even nine supermarkets and shops, some have been left wondering what on earth they're going to put on their scones.
Debates have begun on Twitter as to whether a simple butter and jam on scone combination could suffice - a number of Brits have even admitted to normally putting jam, clotted cream and butter together on a scone anyway. We're not sure what we make of this - it's definitely not something we'd recommend you admitting to the Queen, or at least the Cornish anyway.
It seems that, because a cream tea is a staple of quintessentially British dining, the sheer number of Jubilee afternoon teas has meant that the UK now has a shortage of clotted cream. Although there's no reports of people bulk buying tubs of the stuff yet - similarly to when people were buying endless amounts of loo roll during the pandemic - many supermarket shelves are noticeably bare when it comes to that stretch of the dairy aisle.
In Bristol, many supermarkets have empty rows where the clotted cream should be, as pictured above in Gloucester Road Co-Op. It's not just in Bristol, though - the issue has been reported by people around the country.
One Twitter user, @Lottieeee, today tweeted: "War is kicking off in Waitrose. Three people with trolleys are on a rampage around the store because they've run out of clotted cream. How on earth are they going to have their jubilee tea & scones without clotted cream?!?!"
To which @Suzyyyeee replied: "My mum has been in every shop in a mile radius looking for clotted cream... to no avail."
And @PositivePWR tweeted: "Oh my goodness, getting a proper scone has become such a mission! Somebody needs to sort this out."
Some are wondering what on earth to do with their plain scones, like @KephraComic who writes: "I'm so disappointed, there's no clotted cream in any stores! Our scones are now pointless pieces of thick bread."
But some, like @jrussell46 have improvised, writing: "Made some scones this morning. No clotted cream to be found in the shops so its whipped up double cream... with jam on top."
While @Macallla said: "I gave up looking and just bought a banana cake and a caramel cake instead. Basically all the cake is going to be inhaled over the next 48hrs, I'm buzzing."
And if you think it's just everywhere but Devon and Cornwall who are suffering - think again. @Lesley_London tweeted: "Yesterday when shopping in Sainsburys in a Devon town there was no clotted cream. Just an empty shelf.
"Clotted cream. In Devon. I’m sure we were told things would be better for us after Brexit!"
And even strength in numbers hasn't done the trick. @chhainsaw said: "Going to M&S food on Jubilee bank holiday, pray for me... No less than 6 of us were looking for clotted cream and a woman told me not to go to any of the surrounding supermarkets cause they didn't have any either."
Amy, who could see the funny side, tweeted along with three crying laughing emojis: "Only in England could people kick off because we have a shortage of clotted cream."
Meanwhile, some shoppers were also struggling to find other Jubilee essentials today, including that all-important Union Jack decor. @28_L_T_28 said: "I can't get (Union Jack) bunting... I've been to about 8 places!!"
Have you managed to find clotted cream? Let us know where (and how you have it on your scones) in the comments below.
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