Spangles

For the fast food restaurant chain, see Spangles (restaurant).

Spangles were square boiled sweets, bought in a paper tube with individual sweets cellophane wrapped. They were manufactured by Mars Ltd in the United Kingdom up until the early-1980s, and were briefly re-introduced during the mid-1990s.

The humble Spangle has taken on a totemic significance for those in the United Kingdom. The question "What ever happened to Spangles?" became so frequent that Spangles became a shortcut to unabashed discussions about nostalgia, particularly amongst those born between the mid-1960s and mid-1970s in the United Kingdom.

Spangles were re-introduced to the United Kingdom market for a limited period in 1995. They were sold for a set period of time and have since never been reproduced.

Spangles were available, among others, in red wrappers (fruit flavour) and black (liquorice).

Research has shown that the "Old English" variety was favoured by those with more sophisticated tastes, whereas the fruit flavours appealed to the untutored palate. Some even remember the appearance of the 'mystery spangle', a new flavour which was wrapped in paper covered with question marks.

Nowadays the Tunes brand is the only remaining relative of the Spangles brand, sharing the dimensions and wrapping of the original product.

References

Private communications, Dr A R Hedge and Mr A W Kay, 2006.

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