Sweets From The 70s, 80s And 90s That Disappeared

Some of these were genuinely good. Some were terrible and are missed anyway, which tells you most of what you need to know about nostalgia.

Here's what vanished, roughly when, and which ones have been dragged back.

The seventies losses

• Spangles - boiled sweets in a paper tube, including the notorious Old English flavour that divided the nation. Gone by the mid-eighties and repeatedly rumoured to be returning.
• Texan bar - a chewy toffee bar with a cowboy in the advert and the line about a man's gotta chew what a man's gotta chew.
• Aztec - a Cadbury bar with nougat and caramel, launched as a rival to Mars and discontinued in the seventies.
• Amazin' Raisin bar, Rowntree's Jamboree and Prize bars - all gone and all fondly misremembered.
• Bar Six, a wafer bar that survives in some overseas markets.
• Cabana - coconut, cherry and caramel, and utterly of its era.

The eighties and nineties losses

• Pacers - green and white striped chews, essentially mint Opal Fruits, discontinued in the eighties.
• Banjo - a Mars wafer bar sold in pairs.
• Wispa Gold - discontinued, brought back for a limited run after a campaign, then withdrawn again.
• Cadbury Fuse - launched in 1996 with an enormous campaign, discontinued in 2006.
• Secret - a Nestle bar with a bird's nest style chocolate shell.
• Nestle Drifter, Rowntree's Trio, and the Cadbury Marble.
• Hedgehog Crisps - not a sweet, but the story is too good to leave out. The flavour claim landed the maker in trouble with trading standards.
• Cadbury Spira, discontinued in 2005 and the subject of a persistent campaign to bring it back.

Renamed rather than discontinued

• Marathon became Snickers in 1990. Nobody over forty has fully accepted this.
• Opal Fruits became Starburst in 1998, losing 'made to make your mouth water' along the way.
• Raider became Twix.
• Jif became Cif, which isn't a sweet but comes up in every conversation about this.
• Oil of Ulay became Oil of Olay in the same wave of global brand alignment.
• Marathon has been sold again in limited runs as a retro release, which proves the point.

The penny sweet counter

• Black Jacks and Fruit Salads - still made, though the Black Jack artwork was changed after complaints, and rightly.
• Flying saucers - rice paper and sherbet, and the only confectionery made of stationery.
• Sherbet Fountain - the paper tube was replaced with a plastic one in 2009, which a lot of people treat as a discontinuation.
• Candy cigarettes, renamed candy sticks, with the red tip quietly removed.
• Anglo bubbly, gobstoppers, shrimps, foam bananas, cola bottles and jelly snakes.
• Everything weighed out into a paper bag by the quarter.

Why they vanish

• Most discontinued sweets were simply not selling. Affection is not the same as purchasing.
• Sugar reformulation and changing tastes took out several.
• Manufacturer consolidation - Rowntree's to Nestle, and Cadbury's various owners - pruned duplicated lines.
• Retro reissues are common and usually temporary. A limited run is a marketing exercise, not a return.
• A surprising number are still made in Ireland, Australia or South Africa, which is why holidaymakers keep finding them.

Shop cards

How to write it so it lands

• Affection isn't sales. That's why most of these went.
• A retro reissue is a limited run, not a return.
• Several are still made abroad. Check the airport shop.

Where to shop next

• School dinners we all remember
• Toys of the 80s and 90s
• Christmas presents every child got
• Computers and consoles we grew up with
• Phones before mobiles
• Dial-up, MSN and MySpace
• Cassette tapes and taping the charts
• Video shops and late fees
• The Argos catalogue and the wishbook
• School stuff we all had
• Cars, caravans and the British seaside
• Things kids today will never understand
• Out until the streetlights came on
• What childhood cost then vs now
• Sweets quiz
• Guess the year quiz
• Growing up in the 80s and 90s
• Free feel good tools
• Shop cards
• Planning the party? Birthday party ideas
• How to make a balloon arch
• Photo booth prop ideas
• Pin badges
• All guides

Frequently asked questions

What sweets have been discontinued in the UK?

Spangles, Texan bars, Aztec, Pacers, Banjo, Secret, Cabana, Cadbury Fuse, Spira and Wispa Gold are among the most missed. Several have had temporary retro reissues.

Why was Marathon renamed Snickers?

Mars aligned its brand names globally in 1990. Snickers was the name used in most other markets, so the UK name changed to match.

Will Spangles ever come back?

They're rumoured almost annually. Retro reissues do happen, but they're usually limited runs rather than a permanent return, because the original was discontinued for lack of sales.

Do you sell retro sweets?

No - we make greeting cards, prints and pin badges. This page is here purely for the arguing.