A TEENAGER has spoken of his shock after seeing mince pies at his local Sainsbury’s - in September.

Archie Sherwood Keevins said he was baffled to see the Yuletide treat at the supermarket in Keymer Road, Hassocks, last week.

The mince pie-mad 13-year-old quickly scooped up a six pack of the pies after seeing them on the shelves.

“I saw the packaging with what looked like trees and baubles on it and almost couldn’t believe my own mince pies,” he said.

“The box had Christmassy colours and the pies all had trees on them.

“Obviously, I bought them straight away because who doesn’t love mince pies?

“I scoffed them all pretty quick but I was more than a bit surprised to see they wouldn’t have kept until the big day anyway.”

A spokesman for Sainsbury’s said: “Each year we stock some festive products in advance of the main Christmas event.

“We will be adding items all the way up to Christmas and the vast majority of our products have a sell by date past Christmas.”

Archie said: “It’s not even Hallowe’en yet and I’m eating mince pies.”