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The Great British Tuck Shop
The ultimate book of sweetie nostalgia! A colourful, witty and irreverent encyclopedia of all the sweets and crisps of your youth. From Mojos to Rainbow Drops, Space Raiders to Trios, Corona to Kia Ora and everything in between. Fully illustrated with hundreds of wrappers, ads and specially recreated packshots this book will lead you down memory lane until you reach the corner shop, load up a 10p mix up bag and rot your teeth on the contents. The authors have been given access to the archives, factories and warehouses of some of the leading sweet and snack manufacturers in the country and have delivered a book that is packed full of fascinating historical research… … and lots and lots of sweets.
1111 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 15, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 9, 2022
If you find yourself longing for the sweets of your childhood, and particularly if you grew up in the 1970s and early 1980s, this book is a must for you.
Steve Berry's previous book of nostalgia, "TV Cream Toys: Presents You Pestered Your Parents for", was wonderful, although more of a picture book than something you could read, but this book has clearly been a labour of love. Yes there are lots of pictures of sweets, wrappers, bags, lollies, cans, old advertisements from magazines, stills from TV ads and so on, but the books is surprisingly thick - almost 400 pages in total - and there is a lot to read! Divided into themed sections (chocolate, crisps & snacks, drinks, sweets and so on) each is then subdivided into shorter pieces, so for example in the part devoted to chocolate there are segments on bagged chocolates (Buttons, Maltesers, Minstrels...), sharing bars (Dairy Milk, Galaxy...), individual bars (Mars, Milky Way...), fingers (Twix, Drifter, Time Out...) and so on. As a book it is always interesting to read, often very funny, sometimes rather emotional, and I loved it all.
Not everything is covered, and you are bound to find some items aren't mentioned (I was hoping to find a mention of a bar called "One Two" I remember - kind of like a Twix but with each finger wrapped individually, and separated by perforations so you could share them or eat one now and have the other later, but it wasn't there) or they are mentioned but not pictured, but you'll find yourself grinning as you remember the brands you enjoyed so much, and craving one more taste. It's a shame that there also isn't an index - the "periodic table" idea inside the covers is fun but not that helpful really.
A wonderful piece of nostalgia for any child of the 70s or 80s.
Steve Berry's previous book of nostalgia, "TV Cream Toys: Presents You Pestered Your Parents for", was wonderful, although more of a picture book than something you could read, but this book has clearly been a labour of love. Yes there are lots of pictures of sweets, wrappers, bags, lollies, cans, old advertisements from magazines, stills from TV ads and so on, but the books is surprisingly thick - almost 400 pages in total - and there is a lot to read! Divided into themed sections (chocolate, crisps & snacks, drinks, sweets and so on) each is then subdivided into shorter pieces, so for example in the part devoted to chocolate there are segments on bagged chocolates (Buttons, Maltesers, Minstrels...), sharing bars (Dairy Milk, Galaxy...), individual bars (Mars, Milky Way...), fingers (Twix, Drifter, Time Out...) and so on. As a book it is always interesting to read, often very funny, sometimes rather emotional, and I loved it all.
Not everything is covered, and you are bound to find some items aren't mentioned (I was hoping to find a mention of a bar called "One Two" I remember - kind of like a Twix but with each finger wrapped individually, and separated by perforations so you could share them or eat one now and have the other later, but it wasn't there) or they are mentioned but not pictured, but you'll find yourself grinning as you remember the brands you enjoyed so much, and craving one more taste. It's a shame that there also isn't an index - the "periodic table" idea inside the covers is fun but not that helpful really.
A wonderful piece of nostalgia for any child of the 70s or 80s.
January 5, 2014
If this book were a sweet, it would most closely resemble Quality Street's eponymous Big Purple One. With an invitingly colourful cover, we find a chocolate shell of nostalgia enrobing the caramel goodness of facts, figures and miscellany on every gone-but-not-forgotten tooth rotting experience from our collective youth. Finally at its heart we discover a rather serious and hard centre on the rather sobering subjects of advertising and marketing.
Think you know crisps and pop? Think again. It was certainly a revelation to me that Alpine Cola (achieving a brief and minor domination of lunchboxes around 1990) was produced in Birmingham and that Fanta was an innovation of the Third Reich. While being reasonably generous with hard information, the authors are similarly generous with dollops of sarcasm which is easier on the palate than mere reverence. Certainly what I enjoy most about childhood in the 80s was how unremittingly naff it was. Naff computer games (Knight Lore notwithstanding), naff TV (TJ Hooker anyone?) and jolly, jaunty but ultimately quite naff crisps and pop. If you disagree then perhaps Tangy Toms, Quatro and candy cigarettes will jog your memory.
The Great British Tuck Shop is exhaustive, written with Beano-esque glee but is ultimately a bittersweet experience. The hand-wringers did for the candy cigarette and Top Deck what big corporations did for Benson's crisps and Wild Cola. What was left has fallen by the wayside as the marketing men have realised that you can make more money by marketing the same old rubbish to adults. Goodbye Funny Feet, hello halloumi-and-shiraz-flavoured Magnum.
Also, I've knocked a star off my review for some of the eye-watering design decisions in this book. I'd rather eat five Fireball Jawbreakers in a row than attempt to read yellow text on a white page again.
Think you know crisps and pop? Think again. It was certainly a revelation to me that Alpine Cola (achieving a brief and minor domination of lunchboxes around 1990) was produced in Birmingham and that Fanta was an innovation of the Third Reich. While being reasonably generous with hard information, the authors are similarly generous with dollops of sarcasm which is easier on the palate than mere reverence. Certainly what I enjoy most about childhood in the 80s was how unremittingly naff it was. Naff computer games (Knight Lore notwithstanding), naff TV (TJ Hooker anyone?) and jolly, jaunty but ultimately quite naff crisps and pop. If you disagree then perhaps Tangy Toms, Quatro and candy cigarettes will jog your memory.
The Great British Tuck Shop is exhaustive, written with Beano-esque glee but is ultimately a bittersweet experience. The hand-wringers did for the candy cigarette and Top Deck what big corporations did for Benson's crisps and Wild Cola. What was left has fallen by the wayside as the marketing men have realised that you can make more money by marketing the same old rubbish to adults. Goodbye Funny Feet, hello halloumi-and-shiraz-flavoured Magnum.
Also, I've knocked a star off my review for some of the eye-watering design decisions in this book. I'd rather eat five Fireball Jawbreakers in a row than attempt to read yellow text on a white page again.
April 23, 2017
A page turning heady trip of nostalgia.
I read this book within a day, a true page turner.
Being a child of the 70's/80's most of the sweets, crisps, snacks, drinks and ice creams are very familiar to me. Each wrapper and packet brought back memories and stories from days gone by.
The phraseology and wording of this book had me laughing out loud many a time. And Nodding sagely at things I thought I'd imagined (I knew Double Deckers used to contain raisins!)
So get on your best ra-ra skirt and leg warmers, make sure your space hopper is fully inflated and lose yourself in this amazing and very informative literary jewel. (Grifter optional) :)
I read this book within a day, a true page turner.
Being a child of the 70's/80's most of the sweets, crisps, snacks, drinks and ice creams are very familiar to me. Each wrapper and packet brought back memories and stories from days gone by.
The phraseology and wording of this book had me laughing out loud many a time. And Nodding sagely at things I thought I'd imagined (I knew Double Deckers used to contain raisins!)
So get on your best ra-ra skirt and leg warmers, make sure your space hopper is fully inflated and lose yourself in this amazing and very informative literary jewel. (Grifter optional) :)
June 21, 2025
Superb book. A truly excellent trawl through pretty much everything confectionery related. Sweets crisps, drinks and ice creams are covered from the post war era up to the 90s. Some Proustian rush moments here for sure!
October 27, 2021
I like crisps
September 5, 2024
Marvellous deep dive into babyboomer sweetie-heaven, a fab selection of nostalgic pictures and wry commentary.
February 17, 2013
The thing about these kind of books is that they are pretty much guaranteed an audience, nostalgia being such a staple of modern living (and, apparently, good for your health, according to recent studies...) and as such could almost write themselves, assuming you have your archive colour pictures sorted (N.B. there would have been absolutely no point reading this on my old black-and-white Kindle). Berry chooses not to take this route, however. Rather, he gathers his lovingly researched background facts, and his sheaf of pictures, and writes them up to within an inch of their lives, bound tightly together with rubbish jokes and cheesy puns that I soon couldn't even be bothered trying to 'get'. But it didn't really matter, given the no-brainer food/nostalgia combo.
From a personal point of view, my particular highlights were: Vice Versas (white and brown chocolate Minstrels copycats); Fresh Minty Eggs (milk chocolate and mint fondant NOT a combination my teeth would be able to bear nowadays); Tudors pickled onion crisps (a dancing class tuckshop favourite); Wall's ice lollies K9, Dracula, Finger and Funny Feet (owing to a fun game pack I owned revolving round these 'characters', presumably a prize for collecting a million lolly sticks...); and the entire section on chocolate biscuits. I don't think I was allowed many sweets as a child, but I believe Trios (yaaasss!) and Viscounts (aww, nawww!) and their companions were a staple part of my packed lunches throughout the 80's. And, yes, I do remember my only ever all-chocolate-no-biscuit honeycomb United earned me maximum kudos with my fellow Brownies (Brownie points? Oh, sorry, obviously been bitten by the pun-bug so rampant in this book...)
Five stars for the memories, two maximum for the irritating writing.
From a personal point of view, my particular highlights were: Vice Versas (white and brown chocolate Minstrels copycats); Fresh Minty Eggs (milk chocolate and mint fondant NOT a combination my teeth would be able to bear nowadays); Tudors pickled onion crisps (a dancing class tuckshop favourite); Wall's ice lollies K9, Dracula, Finger and Funny Feet (owing to a fun game pack I owned revolving round these 'characters', presumably a prize for collecting a million lolly sticks...); and the entire section on chocolate biscuits. I don't think I was allowed many sweets as a child, but I believe Trios (yaaasss!) and Viscounts (aww, nawww!) and their companions were a staple part of my packed lunches throughout the 80's. And, yes, I do remember my only ever all-chocolate-no-biscuit honeycomb United earned me maximum kudos with my fellow Brownies (Brownie points? Oh, sorry, obviously been bitten by the pun-bug so rampant in this book...)
Five stars for the memories, two maximum for the irritating writing.
March 15, 2013
Like a Lucky Bag this book contains the very tasty, the not so edible and the rather strange gift. The tasty parts appeal to anyone who was a child in the 1970s or 80s with a nostalgia-filled trip back to when Cresta was cool and your mother's love was measured in Galaxy Counters. The not so edible parts are the fact that the authors are obviously rather knowledgeable about how the sweets, crips, drinks and chocolates are produced, but choose to share this too infrequently and get rather distracted by the puns (the strange gift in the lucky bag). Like the luck bag gift, about 20 per cent of the puns work; the otthers range from the mediocre to the annoying. This well-illustrated book is a real treet (or M&Ms as they are now).
January 14, 2014
Did you know that Jelly babies were once known as peace babies or that Fredo the Frog was almost a mouse?. Do you often wonder what happened to panda pops or a whole range of other sweets snacks and drinks from our child hood days? well this book holds the answers. It literally details and accounts for the origins and fates of scores of sweets and treats we once and in some cases still enjoy. The book is written with witt and humour. The way soda stream is talked about is exactly what my mum used to say when reasoning why we didn't have one.
One question though why are we all obsessed with Spangles?
One question though why are we all obsessed with Spangles?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 20, 2013
For anyone who was a child in the 70s and 80s, this is s must read. It's a mouthwatering trip down memory lane with pictures of sweets you enjoyed and some of the ones you didn't. Thorough- with everything from sweets to crisps and drinks to ice creams- but not dry, it is entertainingly written. The only downside was my sense of frustration at not being able to go out and buy a Pyramint or box of Weekend after I'd finished reading it.
October 12, 2014
I LOVED this book. It's full of nostalgia and background information on childhood delights such as ice lollies, sweets, pop and chocolate. Lots of big colour photos of the old packaging etc. It's amazing what I've forgotten and this book reminded me of, took me right back to my childhood in the 70s & 80s. Brilliant!
October 20, 2014
Good-enough-to-eat guide to the most - and least - missed sweets, snacks and fizzy drinks of days gone by, dazzling illustrated and told with a Double Dip mixture of fascinatingly mundane facts and figures and additive-crazed flights of fancy. If anyone knows where to find some in-date Texan bars please let me know!!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews