7 forgotten biscuits we once loved, which have been discontinued or are hard to find in shops today
A petition has been launched to bring back one biscuit, described as the ‘best ever’
- These biscuits were all very popular in their day
- Some have been discontinued, while others are much harder to find than they once were
- They include a coffee-lover’s dream and a popular 90s lunchbox snack
Britain is a nation of biscuit lovers, with custard creams, bourbons and chocolate digestives among our favourite crunchy treats.
Whether you’re dunking them in your tea, nibbling them slowly to eke out the pleasure, or wolfing them down, there’s nothing like a good biscuit.
But some of the most popular biscuits of yesteryear have been discontinued, to the horror of their many fans, while others are today almost impossible to find in the shops.
Below are seven of the best-loved biscuits that you can no longer buy, or which are now very hard to get your hands on.
They include a 70s classic, a popular 90s lunchbox treat, and a coffee-lover’s dream.
Cartoonies
These bite-sized treats had a crunchy shell, decorated with different cartoon characters. enveloping their soft chocolate centre.
They have been described as the ‘best biscuits ever’ and were hugely popular during the 90s and noughties.
But after their maker, Burton’s Biscuits, was bought out in 2013, they became much harder to find in the shops.
Garibaldis
Named after a formidable Italian general, Giuseppe Garibaldi, these biscuits contain raisins and often come in perforated strips ready to be snapped apart.
They were once all the rage in the UK and could be found on the shelves of most supermarkets.
But their popularity has declined, not helped perhaps by their ‘squashed fly biscuit’ nickname, and they are much harder to track down these days.
Penguin Flipper Dippers
These chocolate-flavoured biscuits with a vanilla and chocolate-flavoured dip were McVities’ answer to KP Choc Dips.
One person called them ‘elite’, and another said they loved finding them in their school lunchbox.
But after being introduced in the early noughties, amid a blaze of publicity, they failed to stand the test of time.
Bisc& bars
The Bisc& range was half-biscuit, half-chocolate bar, and came in four different varieties: Mars, Twix Bounty and M&Ms.
It was launched in the UK in 2003 but failed to take off and was discontinued just a few years later, in 2006.
Echo bar
This was another hybrid snack, with a finger of bubbly white chocolate sitting on a biscuit base, and the whole thing covered in milk chocolate.
It was launched by Fox’s Biscuits in 2000 as a rival to the likes of KitKats and Twix bars, and it had many fans, with one person calling it ‘epic’.
But it was discontinued in around 2012 and, despite more than 600 people backing a petition calling for its return, Fox’s has confirmed there are no plans to bring it back.
These buttery, crispy biscuits with a buttercream centre were particularly popular in the 70s.
They were made by McVitie’s before being discontinued in 2005, but there are plenty of recipes online describing how you can make your own.
Other countries had different versions, made with chocolate and coconut biscuits, held together by chocolate buttercream.
Cafe Noir
A coffee-lover’s dream, these crunchy, coffee-flavour biscuits are topped with coffee icing.
They are made by McVitie’s, and there have been reports they were discontinued.
But, although they’re rarer than they once were, it seems you can still get them if you look hard enough.
How many of these biscuits have you tried, and which old biscuit do you miss most?
Enjoyed this sweet slice of nostalgia? You might like our look back at the sweets and chocolate bars of the 70s, 80s and 90s that were discontinued before their time.