THEY may be a staple of Christmas dinner, but the humble Brussels sprout takes some swallowing in the North-East.

A survey of sales across the country has placed the region at the bottom of the sprout league table.

Safeway analysed sales from stores across the UK and discovered its branch in Byker, Newcastle, sells only 675 sprouts a week on average.

This compares with Clacton-on-Sea in Essex, the sprout capital of the UK, which consumes about 57,000 sprouts in a typical week.

Byker, made famous by the children's TV drama Byker Grove which made stars of Pop Idol hosts Ant and Dec, was bottom in a list of Safeway's 482 stores.

The survey has revealed that support for the nutritious but notoriously windy vegetable generally increases the further south they are sold.

Residents of Newport, Isle of Wight, are the second biggest sprout fans, munching through an average 28,375 a week.

They are followed by shoppers on Guernsey (27,000 a week), Hastings, East Sussex (26,750), and Northampton (25,625) in fifth place.

The Scots, in contrast, are not huge fans of the vegetable, according to Safeway's sales.

Its store in Westhill, Aberdeenshire, typically sells only 850 sprouts a week.

Elaine Young, fresh produce sourcing manager at Safeway, said: "Christmas dinner just wouldn't be the same without sprouts.

"It was interesting to find out which towns love sprouts and which towns hate them, and Clacton people are obviously absolutely mad about them."