Twins ice cream: viral TikTok video shows 9 quid for 2 Mr Whippy ice creams from van - what is a screwball?

Not even the humble Mr Whippy ice cream is safe from the rising prices that affect Britons up and down the country on a daily basis, joining the ranks of the £8 pint as an emblem of runaway inflation.

But £9 for two ice creams?! That's enough to make you scream louder than a child who's just dropped their cone.

That’s exactly what greeted two eight-year-olds after finally reaching the front of the queue for a park ice cream van on a rare sunny day, and now the TikTok video featuring Burnley twins Marnie and Mylah criticising the cost of two screwball ice creams has garnered 14 million views.

“Bloody £9 for two?!” they exclaim as they express the frustration shared by many Britons dealing with high living costs, before one of the twins points out that a van on her street charges just £1 or £2, suggesting the vendor’s business model is flawed and is “going to get nowhere”.

Adding to her frustration, she notes that the van “only does bloody cards” and not cash payments.

Screwballs were particularly popular in the UK during the 1970s and 1980s, but are still enjoyed today. They are typically served in a cone-shaped plastic cup, and are characterised by a swirl of brightly coloured soft-serve ice cream - usually flavoured with fruit or bubblegum - with a gumball or a small candy treat at the bottom of the cup.

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The viral video has concerned many of the UK's 5,000 mobile ice cream vendors, who are already struggling in the face of poor weather and rising costs.

John Taylor, whose C&M Ices van was named "mobiler of the year 2023" by the Ice Cream Alliance (ICA), highlighted that price increases affect all industries, not just ice cream.

“Everything is going up,” he told The Guardian. “It’s not just our industry. Every industry is in the same boat. The problem is everybody perceives us as a cheap product.”

He added: “Everyone seems to think ice-cream should be 50p or £1. They’re quite happy to pay four quid for a lukewarm Starbucks coffee but won’t pay a couple of quid for a high-quality ice-cream.”

Taylor listed several cost pressures affecting ice cream vendors, including increases in diesel, electricity, insurance, pitch fees, wages, and ingredients like milk powder and sugar.

He said that small, family-run businesses like his lack the purchasing power of supermarkets, and can’t just “buy 1,000 pallets of Magnums and sell them on at next to nothing just to get people through the doors.”

Environmental regulations now also require ice cream to be sold in more expensive containers as opposed to single-use plastic containers, further driving up costs (one van owner said the replacement costs eight times as much).

Joseph McNeil, ICA president, explained that the price of a Mr Whippy varies by location and is heavily influenced by pitch fees, but the average cost is around £3.50.

While £4.50 is high, McNeil argued it’s not unreasonable considering the cost pressures on vendors. He said: “We, as an industry, probably come under fire more over price. This is the second or third video I’ve seen this year about ice-cream being expensive.”

“No one seems to associate the cost of living crisis with the ice-cream man or woman. We are going through it the same as any other business.

“Our rents are forever increasing, we have VAT and the national living wage to pay, and that’s before we get started on ingredients to actually make the ice-cream.”