# Wham bars

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## Summary

Wham bars are thin, chewy bars with fizzy pieces inside, created by McCowan's in Scotland in the early 1980s. At their peak 30 million were sold a year.

## Description

The Wham bar is a thin, chewy bar with coloured pieces of fizzy sherbet running through it. It was created in Scotland in the early 1980s, and it is sold in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Made in Stenhousemuir
Wham bars were introduced in the early 1980s by McCowan's, a Scottish sweet maker based in Stenhousemuir, near Falkirk, which also made Highland Toffee. At the peak of their popularity, 30 million Wham bars were sold every year.
The flavours
The original Wham bar is raspberry. Over the years many other flavours have joined it, including strawberry, cola, sour apple, sour cherry, an extreme sour blackcurrant, and Brew, a flavour similar to Scotland's Irn Bru. Most come in standard, mega and mini sizes. In 2009 Wham sherbet dips joined the range, with a blackcurrant lolly and sherbet, and in 2010 a strawberry Glam Bar followed.
Hard times for McCowan's
The company behind the Wham bar went through a turbulent few decades. McCowan's was bought by Nestlé in 1959, bought out by its management in 1989, sold to the Dutch confectioner Phideas in 1996, and independent again in 2003. In 2005 it merged with John Millar and Sons to form Millar McCowan, which went into administration in 2006. A new company, The New McCowan's, followed, and it too went into administration in 2011.
Saved in 2011
On 14 October 2011 it was announced that the Wham bar and Highland Toffee brands had been bought by Tangerine Confectionery, now part of Valeo, the same group that makes Barratt sweets such as Black Jacks and Refreshers. The old McCowan's factory in Stenhousemuir closed in 2011.
A sweet of the 1980s
Wham bars are now made by the same group as Black Jacks, Fruit Salads and Refreshers. For McCowan's toffee, see Highland toffee, and for the other sweets of that decade, what sweets were popular in the 1980s?.

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