Last updated 09:31, Saturday, 11 October 2008

When all’s well with the world, you don’t feel so guilty when you indulge yourself in something naughty but nice.

When everything’s going horribly wrong and it’s all doom and gloom that’s when you need a little lift even more.

So the arrival of National Chocolate Week on Monday is perfectly timed to provide an antidote to any economic woes.

Britain is a nation of chocoholics, individually we consume over 10kg of chocolate each year – more than any other European nation. Last year, £3.37 billion of chocolate was sold in the UK. The current economic crisis seems to have bitten into our buying habits, and we’re saving cash by cutting back on luxuries, according to one Cumbrian chocolate-maker.

Bob Cullen, who runs Saunders Chocolates at Rheged, near Penrith, with wife Jane, has noticed the change in recently.

He said: “We have actually seen an improvement in sales of top-end chocolate over the last few weeks. But there has been a drop in the middle and lower end.

“It is quite simple, those that had money have still got money, while those with a little bit less have been hit by rising prices and are struggling to afford certain things.”

Saunders have their own version of the ‘credit crunch’ – a wafer of pure butter crunch covered in chocolate and broken up into chunks: “It is very popular and we sell a lot of it, but it is on a buy-one-get-one-half-price offer this week.”.

His finding are backed up by the smart London department store Selfridges which announced a 20 per cent sales rise in premium chocolate in the past four weeks. Selfridges’ director of food and restaurants Ewan Venters said: “Quality chocolate is the ultimate solution, being relatively inexpensive, instantly satisfying and really helps lift your mood,” according to research by Mintel.