Why have shops run out of Mothers Pride Scottish plain bread?

One shopper said: “It’s the same in all the shops, it’s not just here.

“Even if you go further afield there’s nothing there and we don’t know when it’s coming back.”

It is thought the shortage is due to a packaging issue which means slices of bread are sticking to the wax-coated wrapping paper.

A plain loaf is made in a large baking tray, making it different from a pan loaf which is baked in an individual tray so that a crust forms on all sides.

The two types of bread were immortalised in the Jeely piece song – a Scots folk song written in the 1960s – in the line: “If it’s butter, cheese or jeely, if the bread is plain or pan”.