BANANAS are giving customers a fruity feeling at a Bolton butchers.

Since Greg Hull came up with the idea of adding banana bangers to his range of sausages they have proved to be a sizzling success with shoppers.

Greg of Frasers Butchers, Rishton Lane, is no stranger to dreaming up award winning new recipes to meet the increasing demand for speciality sausages.

And he is not alone. Research out this week says sausage makers appear to have pulled off a coup by going upmarket, creating premium brands with better quality meat, various textures and a wider range of ingredients.

Sausages are once again a mainstay of mealtimes, with forecasters saying the nation will eat 189,000 tons this year, the equivalent of 140 chipolatas each.

By the end of this year the industry is expected to be worth £530 million up 23 per cent in five years.

For the makers, consumers and admirers of this once staple of the British diet, the message seems clear: the banger is back.

Mr Hull, aged 45, a butcher for 30 years said: "Our banana and pork sausages are ideal if you are looking for something novel to slap on the barbecue.

"They're particularly popular with children and it's a good way of getting them to have fruit.

"You can literally make any flavour sausage that takes your fancy.

"Our Blue Stilton sausage is another popular choice, but our best seller is still the traditional pork sausage.

"People are a lot more adventurous these days. They go on holiday, try a new sausage and then bring us in the recipe.

"Sales of sausages are doubling year on year and people are prepared to pay a little extra for a quality product they can't get in a supermarket."