Panic! There’s a UK ice-cream shortage and it’s just hit London

If your taste in ice cream is vanilla, we’ve got bad news. There’s a global vanilla ice cream shortage and it’s just hit London, with lots of gelato shops around our fair city out of stock.

We realise this sounds like a joke but it actually isn’t: the shortage is down to poor harvests earlier this year in Madagascar, where 80 percent of the world’s vanilla pods come from, and prices for the spice have been hiked 500 percent. So, no artisanal indie-parlour ice cream for you (although Maccy Ds might still be able to afford to buy vanilla so you’ll probably be able to get a McFlurry.)

We thought no one even liked vanilla, anyway, but apparently it’s the nation’s favourite ice cream so… silver lining: maybe now’s a good moment to try something more inventive?

Need icy inspiration? Here’s our round-up of the best scoops in the city.