THE small village of Cullybackey in Co Antrim has seen a massive surge in sales of the festive favourite sugary drink Shloer.

Despite having a population of just over 2,500, around 12,000 bottles were sold in Eurospar on the village's Main Street in the space of a week with shoppers buying crates of the soft drink.

The store was selling it in an offer that saw the price of a bottle reduced from £2.20 to 89p. Manager Jonathan Mitchell said "a lorry load" of it had arrived at the shop in anticipation of high demand.

Customers were restricted to buying one crate at a time but the offer was such a hit people were making return visits so they could stock up with multiple crates.

"There are a lot of people in the area who don't drink alcohol so Shloer is always popular at this time of year," Mr Mitchell said.

The shop manager said the traditional red and white grape flavours had proven most popular.

"The offer is always really popular," he said. "We advertise it way in advance and people do ask about Shloer so we knew it would sell well."

Read More: