THE Sun found the country’s most expensive 99 ice cream yesterday — selling for a fiver.
The costly cone comes amid a shortage of Cadbury Flakes.
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A surge in demand hit stocks of the crumbly chocolate sticks.
In Brighton 99s are as cheap as £1.95 and in Leeds they are £2.
But near Borough Market in South London they were going for a whopping £5 each from a Mr Whippy ice cream van.
The seller told The Sun the cost of fuel, ingredients and energy bills had forced the price up.
She said: “It’s getting more and more expensive to do this job and to be able to make any money.
“It costs a fortune to run the generator for the Mr Whippy, and having a spot in central London really isn’t cheap.”
Despite the princely sum, one happy customer reckoned: “It might sound like a lot but nothing beats a Mr Whippy.
“It just reminds me of being a kid and getting ice cream when I was younger.
“It’s the best.”
The 99 was reportedly invented in 1922 by Edinburgh ice cream vendor Stefano Arcari, who would break a Flake in half and stick it into the top of a cone.
The name came from the old custom of Italy’s king having 99 guards, so Italians referred to anything special or first-class as “99”.
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QUEEN BBQ
THE Queen has launched her own barbecue sauce as heatwave-swept Britain gears up for grilling season.
The Queen’s BBQ Sauce, adorned with the Royal Sandringham Estate logo, says it has “a great taste with a Norfolk twist” and says it has a “warming chilli kick”.
Barbecues were a favourite pastime of the monarch’s late husband Prince Philip, with Prince William describing him as “a master”.
The sauce is on sale in the Sandringham Estate gift shop for £6.99 — six times the price of supermarket brands.
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