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ONS adds cream liqueurs to national shopping basket

Published:  16 March, 2016

Cream liqueurs such as Bailey's have been added to the nation's shopping basket by the Office of National Statistics.

The ONS uses a basket of representative UK products to calculate the rate of inflation.

Cream liqueur's inclusion was due to the fluctuations in its pricing as a result of promotional and other offers.

"It represents a sub-sector not covered in the basket and has been introduced to help interpretation of a class where there is a high degree of price volatility due to discounting," the ONS said in a statement.

Also new this year are restaurant main courses, while hot and cold snacks in pubs have been removed from the basket.

Around a third of British consumers are eating and drinking at a wider range of venues than they were two years ago, Greene King's Leisure Trend Tracker revealed earlier this year.

Last year, the ONS added craft beer, reflecting the category's exponential growth in the UK and its emergence as a category distinct from other beers at retail.

The ONS has dropped nightclub entry fees from the basket following a rapid decline in the market, which has halved in size over the last decade.

Other new items in the national shopping basket this year include downloaded computer games, microwave rice, meat snacks and coffee pods, as well as women's leggings, large chocolate bars and nail varnish.

Rewriteable DVDs and CD-Roms were among those items removed.

Hannah Maundrell, editor in chief at www.money.co.uk, said: "Convenience food is still king despite the hugely popular clean eating craze. It's no surprise, the ONS's shopping basket paints a clear picture of our efforts to juggle increasingly busy lives. Who isn't continuously on the go? Whether it's working, socialising or downloading games we just don't stop.

"The fact club entry fees have been thrown out of the shopping basket is yet more proof staying in is the new going out. Perhaps that's why ladies' leggings are now in the basket - after all, it makes sense to be comfy while you're sipping your Bailey's coffee and doing your nails."

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