11 retro chocolate bars we miss including Astros, Spira and Taz as Cadbury makes Dairy Milk buttons change
Cadbury is discontinuing its individual Dairy Milk Treatsize Buttons.
The miniature chocolate packets are often a favoured purchase among families as they're deemed a small and more suitable quantity when buying for children.
While the tiny bags – weighing 14.4g – will no longer be available as individual packets on shop shelves, they will still be available in multipacks and in Christmas ranges, says Cadbury.
Chocolate button packets weighing 40g and 119g are still on sale.
The individual Treatsize packets join Easter favourites Dairy Milk Egg 'n' Spoon cartons, which were also discontinued earlier this year – on that occasion in response to people’s 'changing tastes'.
But as chocolate fans get used to the latest changes what other sweet treats have we loved and then lost over the years?
Here's a look back through the decades at 11 now-retro chocolate bars you might still have a yearning for?
1. Astros
Launched in 1997 Astros were made by Cadbury and were said to be designed as a rival to Nestle Smarties and Mars M&Ms. The candy coated chocolate with a biscuit centre was a firm favourite in the UK during the 90s before being discontinued.
Remaining on sale in South Africa, there was much excitement among chocolate fans last year when retailer B&M managed to get its hands on some Astros and put the boxes back on sale for just over £1.
2. Fuse
The Cadbury Fuse arrived in 1996 and was made up of milk chocolate, nuts, raisins, cereal and fudge pieces. A reported 40 million Fuse bars were said to have been snapped up during its first weeks on sale.
And it remained a staple part of the sweet and chocolate section in most shops and supermarkets until 2006 when it was taken out of production in the UK.
It remains on sale however in other countries around the world, most notably now in India.
3. Taz bar
Very much like the Freddo bar we see in shops today a small slab of Cadbury milk chocolate filled with caramel used to feature the Loony Tunes character Taz, the Tasmanian devil. Bars proved to be a popular pocket money treat often only costing 5p each.
The Taz bar was released in 1994 and remained on shelves for a few years but has since been outlived by the Freddo.
4. Echo
A Fox's Echo was a combination of white chocolate on the top half of the bar and milk chocolate on the bottom. Technically a biscuit more than a chocolate bar it was billed as the perfect after school snack or lunchbox treat in the late 90s but was later replaced by other wrapped biscuits in the Fox's range and in particular the Velvety bar.
In a now outdated listing on Amazon, one reviewer reminisced: "Please bring back the Echo bar. I used to carefully bite off the milk chocolate, then shave off the bubbly white chocolate with my teeth, then there would be a slightly thicker bit of milk chocolate around the biscuit which I would carefully nibble off, leaving just the chocolate flavoured biscuit which was, by now, just asking to be snaffled."
5. Cadbury Snowflake
A mix between a traditional Cadbury Flake and a Twirl the Cadbury Snowflake was crumbly white chocolate encased in milk chocolate. The Snowflake was also at points called a Flake Snow to separate it from its milk chocolate counterpart. It arrived on shelves in 2000 but by 2008 had been discontinued in the UK. The bar - under its name Flake Snow - is still available in other parts of the world.
6. Trio
The Trio was a toffee flavoured biscuit bar first produced by Jacob's and proved to be a popular snack in the 1980s, however Jacob's stopped producing the bars, which came in a red wrapper, in 2003.
The Trio brand, now owned by United Biscuits and produced under the McVitie's name made a temporary comeback in 2016 when the bars went on sale for a limited amount of time. The decision to bring back the retro treat is thought to have been driven by the huge popularity of a Facebook campaign that appealed for its return.
7. Mars Delight
The Mars Delight, perceived as a lighter version of the traditional Mars Bar, spent four years on the shelves but was discontinued in 2008.
Despite a petition at one stage attracting more than 5,000 signatures, the bar has yet to make its comeback.
8. Cadbury Dream
Dream was a white chocolate bar made by Cadbury that was similar to Nestle's Milkybar. No longer manufactured in the UK you can still buy the Cadbury white chocolate bar in parts of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. However at Christmas, a white chocolate advent calendar from Cadbury is often available to buy in England with the chunks behind the doors closely resembling the now outdated Dream.
9. Rowntree's Cabana
The Cabana was a milk chocolate bar found inside a blue wrapper where the inside of the sweet treat was filled with a coconut and caramel filling and chunks of cherry.
Popular in the 1980s the bar was discontinued by the York-based firm in the 90s. Despite numerous petitions and facebook groups that have long campaigned for its return it's yet to make its comeback.
10. Wispa Mint
The Wispa bar from Cadbury, which first arrived in 1981, disappeared for a while but then made an extremely popular comeback in 2007 - however the same can't yet be said for its friend the Wispa Mint.
First launched in 1995, the bubbly Cadbury chocolate in mint flavour stuck around for eight years before being taken off the shelves. It has yet to make a return like the original Wispa.
11. Spira
The spiral chocolate bar - which took its name from the spiral like chocolate shape inside - was first launched in the north east of England by Cadbury in the 1980s. After proving to be exceptionally popular it was rolled out across the UK and became a firm favourite among chocolate fans.
It was discontinued in 2005, with its closest replacement available today thought to be the Cadbury Twirl.