A CADBURY chocolate bar which has been labelled as “yummy” has returned to B&M stores across the UK, to the delight of shoppers.

The retailer has recently been stocking the shelves full of different chocolate treats – including the classic Cherry Ripe from down under.

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One eagle-eyed shopper got their hands on one at their local store before spreading the word on social media.

They took to the Facebook group Dansway Gifts and Bargains UK to let others know, writing: “Cadbury Cherry Ripe Bars BACK at B&M.”

One person commented: “Omg haven’t had them since I was last in Australia, thought it was great finding TimTams in Tesco’s but this is even better!!”

Another said: “Ohhh I have never seen these before love cherry chocolate.”

Someone else wrote: “Omg , love these , used to buy them everyday on way to school when I lived in Oz …”

Another person commented: “You can’t beat them best chocolate ever.”

One person added: “My guilty pleasure at the moment absolutely to die for.”

Cadbury’s Cherry Ripe is a popular chocolate bar in Australia which features rich dark chocolate, ripe juicy cherries and moist coconut.

The Sun has reached out to B&M to check the price of the chocolate bar.

You can also buy a pack of two Cherry Ripe on Amazon for £4.99.

The chocolate brand also has plenty of other exciting ranges which prop up shelves every once in a while.

Just last month Cadbury’s Coated Fruit & Nuts were spotted on B&M shelves.

The discounter often imports stock from Down Under to customer fanfare including Dairy Milk Raspberry bars.

These chocolates aren’t usually found in UK shops and so are especially appealing for shoppers – plus for Aussies, they offer a taste of home.

This year a Cadbury’s mint-flavoured twirl also appeared on shelves in B&M, which originally launched in Australia, and only £1 for four.

What other Cadbury’s chocolates are available?

There’s also loads of classic fan-favourites making a comeback in time for Christmas, such as the Dairy Milk Chocolate Puds.

For individual pud it costs 75p in Sainsbury’s and just 70p in Waitrose.

You can also buy bags of mini puds for £1.65 in Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Poundland.

And the rare 360g Dairy Milk mint crisp bar has returned to some shelves this year – selling cheapest in Asda for £4.

Other Cadbury Christmas bars which are available in supermarkets this year also include the Dairy Milk Classic Wonderland and Mini Snow Balls edition.

Remember to always compare prices when shopping so you know you’re paying the right amount for what you’re getting.

A great way to do this is via the comparison site Trolley which will show the prices for every store.

You can also visit the Cadbury website to browse all their latest products and launches.

It comes as B&M shoppers also went wild for a new twist on the Dream bar.

Meanwhile, chocolate lovers raved about a new type of M&M – the Candy Popcorn M&M Minis.

Nestle also added a new chocolate to its Quality Street “Favourites Golden Selection” pouch: the Toffee Penny.

How to save money on chocolate

We all love a bit of chocolate from now and then, but you don’t have to break the bank buying your favourite bar.

Consumer reporter Sam Walker reveals how to cut costs…

Go own brand – if you’re not too fussed about flavour and just want to supplant your chocolate cravings, you’ll save by going for the supermarket’s own brand bars.

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Shop around – if you’ve spotted your favourite variety at the supermarket, make sure you check if it’s cheaper elsewhere.

Websites like Trolley.co.uk let you compare prices on products across all the major chains to see if you’re getting the best deal.

Look out for yellow stickers – supermarket staff put yellow, and sometimes orange and red, stickers on to products to show they’ve been reduced.

They usually do this if the product is coming to the end of its best-before date or the packaging is slightly damaged.

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Buy bigger bars – most of the time, but not always, chocolate is cheaper per 100g the larger the bar.

So if you’ve got the appetite, and you were going to buy a hefty amount of chocolate anyway, you might as well go bigger.

THE Chancellor last night attempted to win back the City with plans to create pension megafunds to boost investment in Britain and rip up financial red tape.

Just a fortnight after her Budget received a frosty reception, Rachel Reeves told businesses she was still “going for growth”.

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Ms Reeves wants to create her “megafunds” by pooling £1.3trillion of pension savings held by 86 separate local government schemes.

She reckons this will create £80billion to invest in British businesses and infrastructure.

The Chancellor borrowed the idea from Canadian and Australian pension schemes, which bundle local government pension schemes together and invest their trillions of dollars in big assets with high growth and profit potential.

She hopes this will not only cut costs for pension schemes by reducing fees to advisers, but will also funnel greater investment into the country’s infrastructure — which is currently being snapped up by overseas pension funds.

Canadian pension funds own swathes of British properties and utilities, and just this week bought the UK’s airport operator in a £1.5billion deal.

Reeves’ idea is not a new one, but pension reform on this scale has not been tackled before.

Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England, last night agreed that the UK pension system had been “too fragmented” to encourage “investment in the real economy”.

In his speech last night he said the UK’s economic potential growth rate had fallen from 2.6 per cent between 1990 to 2008 to just 0.7 per cent, partly because of low productivity.

Tom Selby, public policy director at AJ Bell, said the megafunds must not forget their purpose to deliver good returns for pensioners.

He said: “In the government’s increasingly desperate search for investment and growth, it is crucial savers and retirees are not forced to pay the price through sub-standard investment return.”

The Chancellor, who has said she wants to bring more stability and security to the financial system than the Conservatives, last night conceded it was time to take off the kid gloves.

She said that some of the rules and regulations brought in after the 2008 financial crisis to avoid another banking meltdown had “gone too far”.

Ms Reeves reckons some rules stifled investment.

She added: “The UK has been regulating for risk, not regulating for growth.”

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Firms feel left out after raid

LAST night was a Square Mile schmoozefest that few Brits or businesses could relate to.

As Reeves spoke of growth under chandeliers in the Lord Mayor’s house, shops, pubs and restaurants counted the cost of her £25billion tax raid.

Retailers feel particularly sore for supporting Labour before the election to then be hit by National Insurance contributions. They also didn’t get business rates reforms.

 Altus Group analysis shows raising taxes on top properties to level the playing field with online retailers actually hits nearly three times more retail, leisure and hospitality firms than online businesses.

Reeves has to renew her charm offensive with firms outside of the City.

Trench warfare for Burb

BURBERRY shares rose yesterday after its new boss outlined an urgent turnaround — and blamed his predecessor for several fashion faux pas.

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Half-year results for the brand fell by a fifth to £1.1billion in the last six months while it has swung to a £53million loss.

Joshua Schulman, who took over as CEO in July, said it was due to “poor decision execution and a lack of focus on core business”.

He also pointed the finger at former CEO Jonathan Akeroyd’s decision to hike handbag prices, when Burberry did not have the same clout as leather goods giants LVMH and Hermes.

He said it will focus on its heritage of trench coats, which Thomas Burberry started in 1856 with waterproofs.

The US boss, who previously led Michael Kors and Coach, dismissed predictions that he would turn Burberry into similarly more affordable and mass-market brands.

New coal mine ban

THE government has banned any future new coal mining schemes as part of its Clean Power push.

It comes after the UK’s last coal-fired power station Ratcliffe-on-Soar shut last month.

Coal mining powered Britain for 140 years but Labour wants to become reliant on green renewable energy by 2030.

Energy Minister Michael Shanks said: “The UK’s in prime position to lead the phasing out of coal power, the largest contributor to global emissions.”

Ices Gaza ‘gag’

ICE cream brand BEN & JERRY’S is suing its parent company Unilever, claiming it was silenced from speaking out in support of Palestinians.

It follows the former Unilever boss telling Ben & Jerry’s to stay out of geopolitics after it said it would stop supplying ice cream to the West Bank two years ago.

The Phish Food maker now says attempts to speak out in support of a ceasefire were blocked, breaching the terms of its settlement in 2022. Unilever said it “rejects the claims and will defend its case.”

INVESTMENT firm London Capital & Finance was a Ponzi scheme, the High Court ruled. It raised about £237million from 11,600 ordinary investors before going bust in 2019.

It depended entirely on new investors paying existing ones, a judge said.

WHS shops fly

WH SMITH yesterday revealed it now makes five times as much profit from its travel network shops than its high street stores after a rapid expansion in US airports.

The stationery retailer opened 100 new stores last year and is appealing to holidaymakers by selling more cosmetics, gadgets and food products.

It made £202million profit from its travel division compared to £39million from its high street stores in the past year. There are 90 more travel shops still to be opened.

A LUCKY lotto winner scooped a whopping £40million jackpot before opting for van life and getting dumped.

Dad-of-two Gareth Bull, 53, scored his winnings in January 2012 after picking up the life-changing ticket on a whim.

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The former builder realised he’d won the multi-million pound jackpot the day after he’d bought the ticket and celebrated with his then wife Catherine.

Six-years on, he splurged some of his mammoth fortune on a bungalow in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, only to have it knocked down and move into a caravan.

He said: “My friends said, ‘You’ve won £40,000,000 and moved into a caravan!’”

When the bungalow was half demolished in 2019 Gareth lived in the remaining rooms so he could stay on site and look after the tools.

Gareth added: “When the rest of the bungalow had to be knocked down, I moved into a caravan on the building site – much to the amusement of my friends.”

Thankfully for Gareth, the move was only temporary as he was in the process of building his dream 6000sq ft house.

“Once I got the green light to go ahead, I started digging and just didn’t stop.”

Despite being lucky in the lottery Gareth wasn’t as lucky in love, and split with his former wife in 2016, five years after their big win.

He then went on to have a whirlwind relationship with Tenerife bar manager Donna Desporte after they met on a stag do.

His wife was said to have spotted the pair in the background of a televised Anthony Joshua boxing match after they had split.

Gareth and his new lover had a star-studded nine-month romance after he used the pick up line “Google me” which ended being the title of Donna’s memoir.

Gareth then struck up a relationship with interior designer Victoria Melling, 48, around the same time he’d taken up caravan life.

After living in his trailer, Gareth was able to build his mega-mansion with the assistance of his new girlfriend.

The pair took to social media to share smitten snaps of couples holidays and luxury hotel stays.

Mum-of-one Victoria helped style the huge four-bedroom property during lockdown and stayed there frequently.

Despite looking loved-up online, and Victoria describing her lavish lover as a “knight in shining armour,” the couple called it quits after two years of dating.

The Furnish Your Interior shop designer told MailOnline: “I did design his house and I helped design his villa in Tenerife, but we are no longer together.”

The million-pound property boasts a wave-controlled swimming pool, sound-sytems, hot tubs, and a three personalised bars.

He also created an artificial lake, which originally designed to be a pond but increased to the size of two tennis courts.

The lucky punter added: “I called it ‘Lockdown Lake’, made a little sign with its name on it and invited anyone who needed to rehome their fish to bring them here.”

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A DELIVERY firm backed by the founder of MoneySavingExpert.com, Martin Lewis, has gone bust, leaving shareholders millions of pounds out of pocket.

Magway Limited, an Ocado-backed tech firm that aimed to revolutionise UK deliveries with a network of pipes, has entered voluntary liquidation.

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Voluntary liquidation is when a company’s directors or shareholders decide to wind up and dissolve the company’s affairs. 

Founded in 2017 by Rupert Cruise, an engineer involved in Elon Musk‘s Hyperloop project, and business expert Phill Davies, the UK startup Magway Limited aimed to revolutionise the freight delivery system. 

Shareholders, including Martin Lewis, the company’s third-biggest investor, are set to lose over £5.7million. 

However, the grand vision has crumbled, and Magway Limited has now appointed liquidators, as first reported by The Grocer.

The company envisioned transporting goods in pods through new and existing 90cm diameter underground and overground pipes, reducing road congestion and air pollution.

The initial route was planned between Ocado‘s sites in Hatfield and Park Royal, west London, with additional routes intended to link UK airports to small distribution centres. 

Magway also had plans to repurpose over 850km of decommissioned London gas pipelines to create tracks for delivering e-commerce goods directly from distribution centres to consumers in the capital.

The founder of MoneySavingExpert.com had substantial control of the business until 2019, but it is unclear whether he withdrew his investments before the company filed for insolvency.

A representative for Martin Lewis declined to comment.

Magway owes over £40,000 in taxes to HMRC and over £47,000 in arrears and holiday pay to employees, leaving just over £74,000 left in the bank.

Liquidators Alvarez & Marsal will be selling Magway’s assets, including its intellectual property. 

Phil Davies, the company’s co-founder and chief executive, said, “We were trying to bring in funds from investors and clients but unfortunately ran out of runway.

“It is a great shame. The team worked tirelessly until the very end.”

Despite this, Davies remains proud of the team’s achievements, stating: “Over the last seven years, we have gained global recognition, won numerous awards, filed multiple patents, and built working prototypes.

“I firmly believe Magway’s innovative technology still holds huge potential.”

HARD TIMES FOR BUSINESSES

Last month, The Fourpure brewing company was placed into administration to “protect itself from market pressures”.

Administration is when all control of a company is passed to an appointed licensed insolvency practitioner.

It doesn’t necessarily mean the end of the business.

Instead, administrators will try to help a company find ways to repay debts or solve its cash flow problems.

Its beers, such as Pomegranate IPA and Juiced Mango and Raspberry, are stocked in major supermarkets like Tesco, Asda, Waitrose and Ocado.

However, it’s not just small businesses that are taking a hit.

Major DIY and homeware chain Homebase crashed into administration yesterday.

Chris Dawson, owner of The Range, rescued 70 stores through a pre-pack administration deal.

The buyout has saved approximately 1,600 jobs, but around 2,000 jobs and 49 stores face uncertainty.

Administrators will now look for buyers for the remaining Homebase stores, which will continue to operate as usual for the time being.

In September, Tupperware Brands, the US maker of food storage containers, filed for bankruptcy.

In a statement to investors, Tupperware’s chief executive Laurie Ann Goldman, said the business had struggled amidst a “challenging” overall global economic outlook.

The rising cost of raw materials, higher wages and transportation costs has seen the company struggle financially.

Goldman added: “As a result, we explored numerous strategic options and determined this is the best path forward.

“This process is meant to provide us with essential flexibility as we pursue strategic alternatives to support our transformation into a digital-first, technology-led company better positioned to serve our stakeholders.”

Cosmetics company Avon also filed for bankruptcy after multiple lawsuits and financial struggles back in August.

Ted Baker collapsed into administration back in March and all 46 stores shut forever.

The Body Shop met a similar fate in February.

Wilko entered administration in August last year after PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) failed to secure a rescue bidder.

However, the brand name has since made a comeback on the high street despite the closure of 400 stores.

Since the start of 2023, Paperchase, M&Co, and Cath Kidston have also fallen into administration.

A MAP has revealed Britain’s cheapest postcodes where homes cost as little as £80,000.

Homebuyers in dual-income households now face paying nearly four times their total income to purchase an average property, according to Zoopla.

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The property website claimed households, where both partners work full-time, typically pay 3.8 times their annual household income to buy a home.

Single buyers in Britain typically face paying 7.6 times their annual income to purchase a home.

Zoopla analysed house price-to-earnings ratios to identify the most affordable areas across the UK’s nations and regions, using data based on a two-earner household with an average local salary.

The online property marketplace found that in Cumnock in East Ayrshire, Scotland, and Shildon in County Durham in the North East of England, the average house price is 1.1 times typical household earnings.

The most affordable location in London was still above the national average affordability ratio for a two-earner household.

Zoopla identified Croydon as the most affordable area in London, with homes costing approximately 4.7 times local incomes.

Izabella Lubowiecka, a senior property researcher at Zoopla, said: “London remains the least affordable area for home-buyers.

“Those in London looking to get more for their money may want to consider buying in one of the South East and East of England’s commuter belt, where there are many towns that are more affordable than London.

“The same is true in markets around many regional cities and we see buyers seeking value for money.”

NAEA (National Association of Estate Agents) Propertymark president Toby Leek said: “Affordability for many is a real issue and, as purse strings remain tightened despite easing factors such as slight drops in inflation, prospective and current home-owners will be looking to enter the market with caution, but also, in some cases, further flexibility in where they nest themselves.

“As many people no longer have the restriction of basing themselves from a static office full-time, they are able to look elsewhere to actually step onto the housing ladder for the first time or find their next, more affordable dream home.”

The report was released alongside research commissioned by Santander UK, which found that nearly three-quarters (73%) of potential first-time buyers would consider relocating to new towns.

This contrasts with 57% of “second steppers” planning to move from their first home and 41% of those looking to downsize in later life.

Among those unwilling to move, several expressed concerns about housing quality.

However, others stated that the availability of healthcare facilities and green spaces would make them more likely to consider relocating.

According to a survey of over 4,000 people in September, 47% of prospective first-time buyers cited affordability as a major hurdle.

Graham Sellar, head of business development – mortgages, at Santander, said: “New towns have incredible potential but, to maximise the impact they can have, they must be built with the people who will call them home in mind.

“Our research shows just how important it is to create lively communities with green spaces as well as easy access to healthcare when it comes to appealing to more home-buyers.”

It comes after the UK’s most expensive and cheapest areas to buy or rent a home were revealed in a recent study.

And a forgotten “seaside” town with plenty of tourists has some of the UK’s cheapest homes – but locals have never been to the shingle beach.

How to buy your first home

Getting on the property ladder can feel like a daunting task but there are schemes out there to help first-time buyers have their own home.

Lifetime ISA – This is a Government scheme that gives anyone aged 18 to 39 the chance to save tax-free and get a bonus of up to £32,000 towards their first home.

You can save up to £4,000 a year and the Government will add 25% on top.

Shared ownership – Co-owning with a housing association means you can buy a part of the property and pay rent on the remaining amount.

You can buy anything from 25% to 75% of the property but you’re restricted to specific ones.

Mortgage guarantee scheme – Available for first-time buyers and those who’ve owned a property before who have a minimum 5% deposit.

It can be used to buy any type of home so long as you don’t pay more than £600,000 for it.

By providing a guarantee that the government will cover some of a lender’s losses if a borrower can’t afford to repay their mortgage and the home is repossessed – more lenders are prepared to lend up to 95%.

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ROYAL Mail is to make a major change to fees within days as shoppers face a surcharge this Christmas.

The service has revealed that business account customers will be asked to pay an additional peak surcharge of 5p for letters and 10p for parcels.

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This will come into force on November 18 and end on January 10, 2025 – the peak time for Christmas deliveries.

While the surcharge won’t be charged to directly to consumers, there are concerns that they will end up footing the bill anyway as businesses look to up their prices to cover the extra cost.

Sarah Coles, personal finance analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “At a time when rising prices have eaten into profits, some companies will feel they have no alternative but to pass the costs on.

“It means shoppers being clobbered with extra delivery charges at a horribly expensive time of year.”

The same surcharge was added to letters and parcels for the first time last year.

The 5p peak surcharge is applied to Royal Mail 24 and Royal Mail 48 large letters, Royal Mail Tracked 24 and Royal Mail Tracked 48 letterboxable products sent by business account holders.

While the following products will be hit with a 10p peak surcharge:

• Royal Mail 24
• Royal Mail 48 Parcels
• Royal Mail Tracked 24
• Royal Mail Tracked 48 Parcels
• Royal Mail Tracked Returns
• Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed by 9am, 1pm and end of the day Sunday
• Special Delivery Guaranteed Returns

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “The peak surcharge only applies to business customers for the Christmas period and was introduced last year.

“It applies an additional charge to certain business parcel products for a limited period to reflect the increased demand and capacity needed to handle increased volumes.

“Other parcel carriers apply a similar surcharge. Christmas is our busiest time of the year and we invest in around 16,000 additional staff, more vehicles and temporary sites to increase our capacity to handle double the normal volumes of parcels.”

It comes after Royal Mail upped the price of first-class stamps by 30p to £1.65 at the start of October.

First class stamp prices increased by 10p to £1.35 in April and by 10p to 85p for second class.

Royal Mail said it had tried to keep price increases as low as possible in the face of declining letter volumes, and inflationary pressures.

More Royal Mail changes

In October, Postal regulator Ofcom said that Royal Mail could be allowed to drop Saturday deliveries for second class letters under an overhaul of the service.

Regulator Ofcom, which has been consulting on the future of the universal postal service since January, said it is now focusing efforts on changes to the second class service while keeping first class deliveries six days a week.

Under the plans being considered, second class deliveries would not be made on Saturdays and would only be on alternate weekdays, but delivery times would remain unchanged at up to three working days.

Ofcom said no decision had been made and it continues to review the changes, with aims to publish a consultation in early 2025 and make a decision in the summer of next year.

Royal Mail said letter volumes have fallen from 20billion in 2004/5 to around 6.7billion a year in 2023/4, so the average household now receives four letters a week, compared to 14 a decade ago.

Royal Mail also ousted old-style stamps and replaced them with barcoded ones last July.

The business said the move would make letters more secure.

Anyone who still has these old-style stamps and uses them may have to pay a surcharge.

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