Cider sales in Britain enjoy a royal fillip

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2003

LONDON (AFP) — Cider sales are enjoying a boom in Britain this holiday season after Prince William gave the once unfashionable beverage a royal thumbs-up, a major supermarket chain says.

With the pre-Christmas rush well underway, Waitrose says demand for cider has grown 22.8 percent in the past four weeks -- and sales of traditional English ciders from small producers are up by as much as 35 percent.

"Prince William has given cider a brand new, young and sophisticated image," said Waitrose spokesman Christian Cull. "Customers are saying: 'If it's good enough for him, I must try it to see what I'm missing'."

Cider, or fermented apple juice, was historically a drink for farmworkers and rural inhabitants in southern England, northern France and other parts of...