Sweets from the 1960s

The 1960s saw a run of new chocolate bars arrive, many of them made by Mars at its factory in Slough, alongside a pop music craze that turned Jelly Babies into missiles.

1960 to 1962

• Galaxy. Mars first made Galaxy chocolate in the United Kingdom in 1960.
• The Milkybar Kid. Nestlé's cowboy mascot has been used in television adverts for Milkybar since 1961.
• Topic. Mars introduced the Topic bar, with hazelnuts, nougat and caramel, in 1962. In 1997 a Topic bar was found to contain the remains of a mouse, traced to a supplier in Turkey; the UK courts ruled that Mars was not negligent under the Food Safety Act, as it had exercised due diligence in inspecting the supplier. Mars discontinued Topic in 2021.

1963: a big year

• Toffee Crisp. Invented in 1963 by John Henderson, the great nephew of John Mackintosh, founder of Mackintosh's, inspired by a cake his wife made for their children. First made in Halifax, it was later made by Nestlé, and production moved from England to Poland in the early 2020s. In 2025 Nestlé replaced some of the cocoa and milk solids with vegetable fat, and the bar no longer met the UK legal figure to be called chocolate: see John Mackintosh, the toffee king of Halifax
• The Creme Egg. Filled eggs had been made by the Cadbury brothers since 1923, but the Creme Egg in its current form was introduced in 1963, as Fry's Creme Egg. It became a Cadbury's product in 1971: see the Creme Egg recipe row
• Jelly Babies and the Beatles. In October 1963, as Beatlemania broke out, British fans pelted the Beatles with Jelly Babies, after it was reported that George Harrison liked them. In the United States, fans threw the much harder jelly beans: see the Beatles and the Jelly Babies

1964: a mystery flavour

Spangles, launched by Mars in 1950, ran a Mystery Flavour contest in 1964, with a secret flavour hidden in packets of Five Fruit Flavour Spangles: see Spangles

1967: Twix and Aztec

• Twix. First produced in 1967 at Mars's Slough factory. The name comes from twin sticks.
• Opal Fruits abroad. The same year, Opal Fruits went to the United States as M&M's Fruit Chewies, and by 1968 they had been renamed Starburst there.
• Aztec. Cadbury launched the Aztec bar in 1967, a bar of nougat and caramel, to take on the Mars bar. It was discontinued in 1978: see Aztec bar and sweets you can no longer buy

Into the 1970s

The next decade brought the Curly Wurly, Skittles, Freddo, Yorkie and more: see what sweets were popular in the 1970s? For the decade before, see sweets in the 1950s

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