Sweet memories A quick history of a few of our favourite treats
That period between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day is the time for eating chocolates, right? Jonathan Rowe has some delicious memories.
AS Forrest Gump observed, “life is like a box of chocolates”, except you get a picture and description in your box of Milk Tray – which is more than you get in life.
Chocolate was being drunk as early as 450 BC in Central America but it wasn’t until the Spanish conquest of Mexico that the cocoa tree arrived in Europe in 1528. The first chocolate house in London opened in 1657.
In 1795 Joseph Storrs Fry (17671835) first used a steam engine to grind cocoa beans which allowed a form of production of chocolate in his Union Street plant.
Born in Narrow Wine Street in Bristol, Fry later lived at Grove House (now Riverwood House) in Frenchay.
It wasn’t until 1847 that Fry’s produced the first chocolate bar, followed two years later by the first box of chocolates produced by Cadbury’s. It wasn’t until 1875 that Swiss Daniel Peter manufactured the first milk chocolate bar, and 1861 saw the first heart-shaped box of chocolates for Valentine’s Day.
By the late Victorian period boxes of chocolates began to be decorated with images of flowers, children, pretty thatched cottages, dogs and cats etc, giving rise the derogatory phrase ‘ chocolate box art’, first used in 1892, meaning something decorative but sentimental and twee.
Cadbury’s Milk Tray is one the longest surviving brands of boxes of chocolates.
It was launched in 1915 and still sells over eight million boxes a year in the UK.
The ‘ Milk Tray Man’ TV advert with the tag line “All Because The Lady Loves Milk Tray” began in 1968 and was rated at No 11 in a UK poll of best TV adverts in 2011.
Cadbury’s Roses first appeared in 1938 and were named after the Rose Brothers, the packaging company who made the boxes. The varieties have changed over 80 years and some have been discontinued like my favourite, the Lime Barrel, and Montelimar (whatever was that exactly?).
Comedian Norman Vaughan’s 1960s TV adverts (“Roses grow on you”) will be remembered by mature readers!
The rather sophisticated Black Magic was launched in 1933 and its distinctive Art Deco style box remained unchanged until 1971. Dairy Box arrived in 1936, as did Mackintosh’s Quality Street. Named after the 1901 play of the same name by J.M. Barrie, the Quality Street packaging fed the need for nostalgia in the days of the Great Depression with the distinctive Regency style characters, Major Quality and Miss Sweetly who appeared on the tins and boxes until 2000.
Terry’s of York also launched their Terry’s All Gold box in 1931 and the following year saw the first Terry’s Chocolate Orange.
The end of sweet rationing in 1953 saw the launch of more classic brands of boxes of chocolates. Joseph William Thornton of Sheffield founded Thornton’s in 1911 but it wasn’t until 1954 they launched the well-known Thornton’s Continental.
Mackintosh’s Weekend box of chocolates, candied fruit and nougat (one of my Dad’s Christmas favourites) was launched in 1957 but was discontinued in the 1980s, as was Good News (also Mackintosh) which began in 1960 and survived until 1988.
One of the chocolates was the ‘Savoy Truffle’ which gave its name to a song on The Beatles’ 1968 White Album.
Written by George Harrison, it was inspired by his friend Eric Clapton’s fondness for chocolate. The lyrics list various flavours (some made up) and Good News itself, to serve as a warning to Clapton about the about detrimental effect of too much chocolate on his teeth.
Crème tangerine and Montelimar,
A ginger sling with a pineapple heart.
Coffee dessert, yes you know it’s Good News,
But you’ll have to have them all pulled out,
After the Savoy Truffle.
Terry’s Carousel, another mix of chocolate and candies began in the 1960s and was discontinued in 2000. After Eights in the distinctive dark green box with dark chocolate squares of mint fondant in paper cases arrived in 1962, produced originally by Rowntree’s.
Mon Cheri was first produced in Italy in 1956 and was first seen in the UK in 1960. They are now made by Ferrero Rocher, the company who launched the well-known hazelnut Ferro Rocher chocolates in 1982. Italian millionaire businessman Michele Rocher named the chocolates after a grotto at the Roman Catholic shrine at Lourdes in France.
Celebrations arrived in 1997 and was voted the favourite Christmas tin or box of chocolates in the UK in 2019. Heroes first appeared on supermarket shelves in 1999.
Selection boxes were once a constant feature of UK Christmases but are now falling out of favour. First made by Rowntree’s in 1925 every chocolate manufacturer produced their own seasonal box and Bristol’s own Fry’s was no exception.
Founded by Walter Churchman in 1728 what became J.S. Fry and Son is believed to have been the oldest chocolate manufacturer in the world, finally closing in 2011. The business began in Newgate Street, Broadmead and was taken over by Joseph Fry in 1761 who moved the business to Union Street.
Originally they manufactured chocolate to drink and was not until 1847 Fry’s made the first bar of chocolate. Fry’s Chocolate Cream bar arrived in 1866. Fry’s also made the first chocolate Easter egg in the UK in 1873.
Fry’s Turkish Delight was launched in 1914 and in 1918 the firm merged with Cadbury’s and eventually became Cadbury Schweppes. The Somerdale factory at Keynsham where Fry’s had moved in 1923 finally closed in 2011 and production moved to Poland and the site was demolished for housing development called “The Chocolate Quarter”.
Employees could consume quantities of chocolate and my Great Aunt Clarrie, who worked at Fry’s all her life, had the figure to prove it!
Edward Packer, an former Fry’s employee , founded Packers chocolate firm in 1881 in Armoury Square, Easton. Production moved to St Paul’s Street in 1883 and a new factory was built in Greenbank in 1902.
In 1911 Packer’s took over Car
son’s of Glasgow and in 1913 the Shortwood factory was built in Mangotsfield. This was sold in 1961 and production moved to the Greenbank site. In 1962 the company became Carson’s Ltd. Until 1961 liqueur chocolates could only be sold on licensed premises but with the change of the law Carson’s Liqueurs were launched in 1966 and the Famous Names box first appeared in 1981.
In 1986 the company incorporated Elizabeth Shaw, best known for Elizabeth Shaw Mint Crisps, and in 1988 Carson’s became Elizabeth Shaw Ltd. The factory finally closed in 2006 and the site is awaiting redevelopment.
Today Guilbert’s at 16 -17 Small Street are the only remaining chocolate manufacturer in Bristol. It was founded by Swiss exile Piers Guilbert who opened his shop at 40 Park Street in 1910.
In the 1930s my Great Aunt Gladys, a rather “refined” lady’s companion used to take my Mum there to buy boxes of chocolate, which I have to say are a bit “special”.
I gave a box to a friend last Christmas and his verdict was “top notch” - and I have to agree!
The Park Street shop was blitzed in 1940 and after the war new premises opened in Leonard lane in 1958 and in recent years another move was made to its present site.
With the shop’s bow window, little flight of steps and tinkling shop doorbell it’s like stepping back in time, particularly if you have a vivid imagination like me!
You can have you own selection of many varieties of boxes of chocolates made up to suit you, so if want a “chocolate - made in Bristol – heaven” experience, look no further. Floral Creams, English Rose and Violet Creams, Peppermint Creams, the choice is yours!