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More on KentOnline
The cost of some of our favourite sweets has risen by an average 250% - with some popular treats now costing double and triple what they did 30 years ago.
Our love of retro sweets it seems comes at a price - and not only to our waistline - according to research carried out into 13 iconic British brands.
The survey, by student accommodation provider Fresh, has taken a nostalgic look at more than 10 different chocolates and chewy bars that were among the most popular three decades ago in the 90s.
The prices of Flumps, Rainbow Drops, Refreshers and Freddos through the years were all looked at, to find out just how much more sweet-toothed Brits are now shelling out for their sugar fix.
A Toffo bar - originally a 20p treat - was found to have the highest increase, costing £2.32 at the point that it left the majority of supermarket shelves between 2005 and 2008.
While the price of the long white Candy Sticks - still available to buy in their square boxed packets today - has risen by almost 300% in 30 years leaping from 20p to now almost 80p.
A Cadbury Flake - recently at the centre of a major nationwide shortage for ice cream sellers caused by an increase in sales during the pandemic - has also seen a price rise.
The crumbly chocolate bar, once advertised by Kent-born singer Joss Stone in a series of television adverts for the chocolate maker back in 2008, cost around 99p in the 90s. The average price of a Flake bar today is about £1.50, say researchers.
Fellow Cadbury chocolate bar the Freddo, whose sister bar the Freddo Caramel started out life as a Taz in 1994 featuring the faces of Loony Tunes characters, has also witnessed its own price rise.
Bars used to cost around 10p per chunk of shaped chocolate, making it a popular cheap treat, but Freddos are now around 25p to 30p on the shelves of most shops with little change in the size of the bar to reflect the increase in price.
Pocket money favourites Flumps and Refreshers have also seen 100% increases while once penny sweet favourite Fruit Salad has witnessed a 400% rise. It has gone from 1p for each wrapped orange and yellow square in the days of the Woolworth's pick 'n' mix to an average 5p for each small chew today.
But while most sweets have witnessed some price increase in the last 30 years there is one sweet that has held firm on its 90s cost.
A Barratt's Dip Dab - the lemon flavour sherbet dip with a strawberry flavoured lolly stick - is still a solid 20p in convenience stores and supermarkets just as it was in 1990, making it a certified bargain when it comes to a taste of nostalgia.
But it is not just the price of some of our favourite sweets that has changed over the years.
An ONS investigation in 2019 revealed the size of some of our favourite treats and supermarket purchases has been diminishing. Dubbed 'Shrinkflation', the investigation found a number of grocery items had reduced in size or weight.
Among the sweets said to have been affected by the changes were Mars Bars, Toblerone, boxes of Cadbury's Creme Eggs, a packet of Maltesers and the weight of a Terry's Chocolate Orange.
Other purchases including Andrex toilet rolls, boxes of cereal Coco Pops and the size of Sensodyne toothpaste had also shrunk according to the Office of National Statistics investigation.
