9 of the best lost crisp flavours and varieties we once loved, including 'messiest' snack ever

• Many weird and wonderful crisp flavours and varieties have come and gone over the years
• Some are best forgotten, but others are greatly missed
• How many of these discontinued crisps do you remember, and which was your favourite?

Crisp lovers have never had it so good, with a plethora of flavours out there to satisfy almost every taste, from the traditional to the truly bizarre.

It wasn’t always this way. Until the 50s, snack fans had to put up with plain crisps, which came with a blue sachet of salt.

Then Tayto founder Joe ‘Spud’ Murphy found a way to add cheese and onion flavouring during production, and the floodgates soon opened.

Over the decades, many flavours have come and gone, from the weird to the wonderful.

Some are best forgotten, like cappuccino or white chocolate and peppermint.

But when others were controversially discontinued, the decision provoked outrage from disappointed fans, who launched petitions demanding their return.

In recent years, crisp makers have bowed to the pressure by reintroducing retro flavours, including, recently, BBQ Walkers and pickled onion Discos.

But there are many more flavours that crisp lovers would give anything to taste one more time.

Below are nine of the most popular crisp flavours from years gone by that you can’t find anymore.

Brannigans roast beef & mustard

Brannigans crisps had been around since the 80s and really packed a punch.

But KP Snacks announced in 2020 that they were being discontinued due to dwindling sales, with a spokesperson describing the move as a ‘difficult decision’.

It’s the roast beef & mustard variety which fans miss most, with one person complaining that ‘life is not the same without them’.

Another fan called them ‘probably the greatest crisps ever produced’ adding: “KP Snacks committed a crime against humanity discontinuing these bad boys!”

Brannigans ham & pickle crisps were also popular, with one person describing how the flavour was ‘so strong it burnt your nostrils’.

Many people also fondly remember the old thick brown packets, which were replaced with foil in the noughties.

Ready salted Chipsticks

Of all the flavours out there that have been discontinued, one of the most missed is a classic.

While you can still get salt and vinegar Smiths Chipsticks, the ready salted version is sadly no longer available.

More than 8,000 people have signed a petition calling on Walkers, which now makes Smiths crisps, to bring back ready salted Chipsticks and ‘make the world a tastier place’, but their pleas have so far fallen on deaf ears.

Beef Potato Puffs

Burton’s Potato Puffs were big sellers in the 60s, 70s and 80s.

People have described the puffed crisps as the ‘best snack ever’, and also the ‘messiest’, with a ‘unique taste’. The ‘Bring Back Burtons Potato Puffs’ Facebook group has 14,000 members.

One person wrote: “They were amazing. I still get cravings for them 25 years later.”

Popular flavours included salt & vinegar, cheese & onion, and cheese & tomato.

But the one that people are really pining for is beef, with one person calling them ‘the highlight of my 50p tuck shop money’.

Hedgehog Flavour Crisps

Despite the name, these never actually contained any hedgehog.

They were developed by pub landlord Phillip Lewis in the early 80s and produced by Hedgehog Foods.

Originally called Hedgehog Flavoured Crisps, they were briefly withdrawn from sales after the Office of Fair Trading claimed the name was misleading since they were flavoured with pork fat and herbs, and no actual hedgehog.

They returned under the new name and remained on sale until at least the 90s but it’s been some time since they were available.

One person called them ‘lovely’, with another describing the taste as ‘like pork crackling from the pub mixed with chip fat’.

Gammon flavour Tudor crisps

Tudor Crisps was founded in 1947 and the brand, originally made in Sunderland and later Newcastle, was massive in Scotland and the north of England.

Tudor made a huge range of flavours, including hotdog & mustard, kipper, and even chocolate. But it was a classic variety - beef - that proved most popular.

Tudor Crisps sadly disappeared from the shelves in the noughties and are still sorely missed by many.

One person recalled how they were ‘worth climbing a mountain for’, while another fan called them ‘unreal’, adding: “Walkers couldn’t handle the competition, so just bought them and robbed us all in the process.”

Smiths Cheese Moments

More a bar snack than a crisp in the traditional sense, these had a crisp outer shell with a soft cheese centre.

One person called them part of the Smiths ‘holy trinity’, along with Scampi Fries and Bacon Fries.

Another described them as ‘the favourite of neglected children in pubs everywhere’, while a third person said the smell was ‘horrific’ but they were ‘still the best snack’.

Fans have not given up hope that they will return one day.

As many people have pointed out, the Cheese Moments logo still often features on the holders for Scampi Fries and Bacon Fries.

And in 2021, Walkers responded to a petition calling for their return by saying: “While we can't promise a comeback at this stage, our teams certainly share the petitioners' enthusiasm for this classic flavour!”

Smiths Horror Bags

These spook-tacular crisps came in a number of varieties, including salt & vinegar ‘Bones’, and cheese & onion ‘Fangs’.

Many people have fond memories of the crisps, with one person recalling how packs used to come with a glow-in-the-dark sticker inside.

A petition calling for their return states: “Let's give the kids today a taste of the 1970s, and the adults a chance to resurrect their youth!”

Spaghetti sauce Monster Munch

Many Monster Munch flavours have come and gone over the years, but a few linger longer in the memory than others.

One is vanilla ice cream, from the noughties, which is most memorable for the novelty factor but had a surprising number of admirers.

One person wrote: “I absolutely loved them and still have a craving to this day.”

Another popular flavour was the blue pickled onion variety, which people recalled actually turned your tongue blue.

But probably the most-missed of all the Monster Munch flavours is the spaghetti sauce version. One person called them ‘amazing’, and another branded them ‘the tastiest crisps ever made’.

Pickle ‘n’ onion Nik Naks

Nobbly Nik Naks, resembling miniature cavemen’s clubs, are unlike any other crisp out there.

There was an outcry in 2008, when scampi ‘n’ lemon flavour Nik Naks were replaced with pickle ‘n’ onion, only to be restored 14 years later.

But many people still have a hankering for pickle ‘n’ onion Nik Naks, which were also discontinued and have yet to make a comeback.

One person recalled: “They’d strip the enamel off your teeth, They were so good.” Another called them ‘sooo nice’ and a third person described how they had been their hangover cure of choice.

Honourable mentions go to cheese and chive Walkers, pictured above, KP Sky Divers, and Smiths Tubes, while there are, of course, other flavours and varieties missed by many.

Who knows which will be the next retro crisp flavour to make a long-awaited return?

For more snack-based nostalgia, check out our list of the forgotten biscuits we once loved.