Cornwall’s scone tradition in doubt as younger people prefer them Devon style

A recurring flashpoint in centuries-old rivalry between counties flares up as under-30s advocate cream before jam

Cornish-style scones, where the jam is spread before the cream could be on the way out, research suggests
YouGov’s survey of more than 54,000 Britons found that younger people are less likely than older generations to put jam on their scones before the cream.
Instead, people aged under 30 are starting to swing towards Devon’s rival method of spreading the cream first before dolloping on the jam.
It marks another twist in a recurring debate between the two counties over which method is correct.
The argument has even drawn in royalty over the years, with the late Queen admitting she favoured the Cornish method while the Prince of Wales once said: “I go with whichever is closest to me to start off.”
YouGov’s survey found that the Cornish method is winning the debate across Britain, favoured by 62 per cent of Britons compared with 28 per cent who opted for Devon’s method.
Which way is best
Every British county – apart from Devon and Somerset – came out in favour of the jam-first approach.
But the tide might be turning as the survey found Cornwall’s dominance starts to diminish as the public gets younger.
Younger people still tend to favour the Cornish style, but not nearly as much as the older demographic.
While 80 per cent of over-70s choose jam before cream on their scone, the figure falls to 48 per cent among the under-30s.
YouGov said it was a “glimmer of hope” for the Devon method and that “on current trends we could start to see some crossover in coming generations”.
The dispute reached a boiling point in 2010 when a farm in Devon won European recognition for the term “Devon cream tea”, meaning teas must be produced, processed or prepared in Devon to use the name.
The move infuriated people in Cornwall who had always considered the cream tea as their own speciality.
In 2020, the Royal family inadvertently entered into the argument by sharing a recipe for scones which unmistakably saw chefs use one method over the other.
The recipe, used by the royal pastry chefs for the late Queen’s garden parties, plumped for Devon’s method of scone consumption.
In 2021, Sainsbury’s was forced to apologise after a branch in Truro, Cornwall, displayed a picture also showing Devon’s method.
At the time, some Cornish locals even threatened to boycott the supermarket.
The survey also looked at the different pronunciations of the word scone and found that 51 per cent of people rhymed it with “gone” while 45 per cent rhymed it with “bone”.
The “gone” pronunciation is most popular in northernmost England, favoured by between 84 and 88 per cent of people in Northumberland, Durham, Cumbria, and Tyne and Wear.
In contrast, Derbyshire and South Yorkshire staunchly favoured the alternative pronunciation, with between 78 and 79 per cent of respondents rhyming the word with “bone”.
In southern England, it is only Essex – 69 per cent – and Cornwall – 58 per cent – where a clear majority of people prefer the “bone” pronunciation.