People want to rename Quality Street ‘Austerity Street’ after noticing shocking size decline

In case you somehow weren't aware of the fact that Christmas is around the corner, the numerous tubs of chocolates in supermarkets are there to remind you.

Celebrations, Heroes, Roses and Quality Street; there are piles upon piles of the tubs ready to be taken home and saved 'for Christmas' - or until you have a craving for something sweet.

If you're looking forward to settling down on the sofa with a box of Quality Street, though, you might find yourself running out sooner than expected as the size of the tins has declined dramatically over the years.

Stephen R. Johnson / Alamy Stock Photo

Old pictures of the tins show them to be almost twice the size of the current boxes, and gradually shrinking over the decades until we're left with the box we have today.

Nestlé sells Quality Street in both tubs and tins, both containing a range of assorted milk and dark chocolates, toffees and cremes, including the coveted green triangle and 'the purple one'.

However, it's still not enough to satisfy some chocolate lovers who are outraged at the decreasing size of Quality Street.

Alongside a picture of the shrinking tins, one Twitter user wrote: "'Quality Street' should be renamed Austerity Street, over the years the tins have become gradually smaller."

@anthony51483709/Twitter

Another said the history of the tins doesn't bode well for what they might look like in the future, showing a fake picture of a palm-sized box and writing: "Just out shopping for bits to put away for Christmas and spotted the state of the chocolate tins. I think Nestlé are going to make Quality Street tins so small they will be invisible to the human eye by next Christmas."

In a statement to LADbible, Nestlé explained: “Our Quality Street tins and tubs are not sold continuously around the year. Each year we introduce a new Quality Street range with formats, sizes, weights and RRPs based on a range of factors including the cost of manufacturing, ingredients and transport and the preferences of our customers and consumers. Final prices are at the discretion of individual retailers.

“This year we have an in-store range that includes a 1.936kg tin, a 1.162kg tin, a 871g tin, a 600g tub, a 382g pouch and a 220g carton. Shoppers can also pick and mix their own personalised Quality Street selection with a 1kg tin at www.qualitystreet.co.uk. We think this range and pricing is competitive and allows a good variety of choices for consumers.”

Quality Street isn't the only chocolate brand coming under fire for the changing size of boxes, with Celebrations also facing backlash.

@NickChiarelli/Twitter

Following the news that Celebrations would be trialling boxes without Bountys, one Twitter user wrote: "CONSPIRACY THEORY: celebrations aren't even going to top up the removed bountys with anything else. we all know tubs of chocolates are getting smaller and smaller each year and this their way of significantly reducing what's in the tub and trying to put a positive spin on it."

In order to really get your fill of the sweet stuff, customers might just have to look at buying more boxes of chocolates in order to tackle the issue of the shrinking size - it is Christmas, after all.

Topics: Christmas, Food And Drink

Emily Brown

Emily Brown is the Community Desk Lead at LADbible Group. Emily first began delivering news when she was just 11 years old - with a paper route. She went on to graduate with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University before contributing to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems. She joined UNILAD in 2018 to cover breaking news, trending stories and longer form features, and now works as Community Desk Lead to commission and write human interest stories from across the globe.