A pub has made the risky move of offering trademark M&S sweets to its customers.

The Orange Tree in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, is now serving up deep-fried battered Percy Pigs… with chips and peas.

And it’s not just the intriguing combination of food that might raise a few eyebrows.

Using the upmarket retailer’s iconic brand of confectionery has already proved to be a topic of controversy for another local business in the town recently. 

Just last month, a nearby ice cream parlour was forced to change the name of one of its offerings that had been called ‘Perky Pigs’.

Fabio’s Gelato was sent a letter by M&S about the ice cream, which replicated the flavour of the sweets, and had to rename it ‘Notorious P.I.G’ because the supermarket needed to ‘protect its brand’.

But it was exactly that saga that inspired pub manager Kris Darius and chef Beverly Morris to start cooking up a beer coated Percy Pig storm. 

The curious concoction can also be served with ice cream from a secret menu, so you’re not obliged to have it with fries – oh, and it’s also free.

Kris, 40, said: ‘There’s a bit of a backstory to this. The local ice cream shop included Percy Pigs in their ice cream and they had to change the name.

‘It went viral and became a big story. I was telling the team about it and we eventually got onto the idea of deep frying the pigs, similar to how the Scots deep fry Mars bars.

‘We’re also a community ordered pub and wanted to support other local businesses.

‘I’ve tried them and I think they’re really nice but other people have said they are awful.

‘They aren’t on our menu and we don’t advertise them. People have to order them at the bar.

‘We’ve only sold about ten so far and they’re completely free, or people can give a donation to charity. We’ve had someone donate £20 to a children’s cancer charity for them so it’s all for a good cause.

‘We don’t buy Percy Pigs in for it, we just like them and will usually have them in the kitchen. We also don’t ask people to bring their own Percy Pigs in.’

The pub shared their wacky creation on social media and wrote: ‘Hitchin strikes again!! Do you remember when Fabio’s Gelato froze M&S’s Percy Pigs. 

‘So we… fried them in our AK beer batter. Tasted surprisingly nice, might be the next big thing after battered Snickers.’

In response, Fabio’s Gelato joked: ‘When M&S see this, we’re going to be sharing the same prison cell.’

When Lidl got wind of M&S’s name-change saga with Fabio’s Gelato, they moved to get one over their supermarket rival by sending owner Fabio Vincenti a letter with packets of its Henry Hippo sweets, asking him to use them for a new flavour. 

In a subtle dig at M&S, the German retailer even gave them permission to name the ice cream Henry Hippo.

The letter said: ‘We’ve been reading all about your “piggy pickle” and wanted to reach out with a “Lidl” inspiration for your next flavour courtesy of our very own Henry Hippos!

‘Sending you a bumper-load to work your gelato magic with. What’s more, we’d be simply honoured if you were to name it Henry Hippo ice cream!’

Fabio, who runs the parlour with his wife Hannah, said they were both ‘blown away’ when the package and letter arrived from Lidl. 

M&S’s original letter to Fabio said: ‘While we are flattered that you have been inspired to create a flavour based on our Percy Pig sweets, and in no way wish to stop you selling this flavour or from using our sweets to top it, we would be grateful if you could avoid using the name Percy Pig to do so.

‘We risk losing those trademarks (and more importantly to us, consumers will no longer be confident Percy Pig-branded products originate from M&S) if we do not take steps to stop others from using them without our permission.

‘We hope you understand how important it is for us to protect our brand.’

Kris added: ‘It’s about thinking outside of the box. We didn’t expect the reaction we’ve had.

‘I would like to think M&S would be all for raising money for charity. Maybe we can have a big charity event in the summer with it.

‘We can use Percy’s power for good.’

In other food-related drama, an unfortunate dad spent £34 on a curry only to find out the takeaway had shut down when he went to get it

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