Quality Street, Roses, Celebrations or Heroes: The Great British Christmas Tin Debate
The tub comes out after Christmas dinner, goes round the room, and somebody is already saying they are only having one. That tub is the centre of a British Christmas, and this year we have all four of the big names: Quality Street, Roses, Celebrations and Heroes, as tubs in stock now, and as pouches and cartons on pre-order in the Christmas container. After Eight sits in the corner pretending it is above all this, and there is a Dairy Box and a Milk Tray for the houses that like a proper box with a lid.
The short version first. Quality Street has eleven sweets in it now, the Purple One wins every poll anyone has bothered to run, and the whole thing was invented in Halifax. The Yorkshire one. Which tub suits which house is lower down, along with what we have this year and how to post two tubs for less. Everything on this page lives in our Christmas collection.
Now the argument.
What is actually in Quality Street now?
Eleven sweets, and Nestlé keeps a running list of them so the rest of us can stop guessing: The Purple One, Green Triangle, Strawberry Delight, Orange Creme, Orange Chocolate Crunch, Toffee Penny, Toffee Finger, Caramel Swirl, Fudge, Coconut Eclair and the Milk Choc Block.
Gone, and still mourned in certain houses: the Mint Fondant, the Almond Octagon, and the Jaffa Toffee, which had been there since the original 1936 line.
On who wins, the numbers are not close. When YouGov ranked the lot in 2017, the Purple One took 37 per cent and the Green Triangle 27. Nestlé's own survey puts the Purple One top too, with the Green Triangle and Strawberry Delight behind it.
I am a Green Triangle man. I accept this is a minority position and I am not changing it. I will also say, on the record, that the Strawberry Delight is better than its reputation.
Two changes you might notice if you have been away a while. In 2022 Nestlé moved nine of the eleven out of the old foil-and-cellulose double wrap and into a paper wrapper with a vegetable-based coating, which took about two billion bits of packaging out of circulation. The Green Triangle and the Orange Crunch stayed in foil at the time. If a tub came over from home that Christmas with half the sweets shiny and half in paper, nothing had gone wrong. Nestlé mixed the old and new wrappers while the changeover happened. Then in 2024 the Purple One and the Orange Crunch were reshaped to match the Caramel Swirl, and the Orange Crunch went to paper as well. So if you grab what you think is a Purple One and get a Caramel Swirl, you have not lost your touch. Read the wrapper.
The same year John Lewis ran pick 'n' mix stations with a limited-edition Coffee Creme in the mix, which is the closest Britain has come to ending the argument. Fill your own tin and the argument is over.
Quality Street was invented in Halifax. Not this one.
I run a British shop in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and the most famous Christmas tin in Britain comes from Halifax, West Yorkshire. I did not plan this. I am taking the credit anyway.
The story starts before the tin. In 1890 John and Violet Mackintosh opened a shop on King Cross Lane in Halifax with £100 of savings. Violet's idea was to blend brittle English toffee with the softer American caramel, and it worked well enough that by 1898 they had opened what Nestlé describes as the world's first toffee factory. Their son Harold took it from there. In 1936 he launched Quality Street, named after a J.M. Barrie play, and he launched it loudly: a full-page advert on the front of the Daily Mail on 2 May that year.
The clever bit was the wrapping. Mackintosh's used the world's first twist-wrapping machine, which meant a box of assorted chocolates could be made cheaply enough for working families rather than only for the drawing room. That is the whole idea of Quality Street in one sentence. A tin for everybody.
During the war the posters promised Britons a shared tin of Mackintosh's once the blackout ended. Mackintosh's merged with Rowntree's in 1969, Nestlé bought Rowntree in 1988, and the sweets are still made in the same Halifax factory. At peak that factory turns out around 12.5 million sweets a day, and the Christmas run starts in March. March. Somebody in Yorkshire is wrapping your Purple Ones while you are putting the garden furniture out.
Roses, the one your mum bought
Cadbury watched Quality Street for two years and then, in 1938, came out with Roses. The Roses tub today has nine in it: Tangy Orange Creme, Strawberry Dream, Hazel in Caramel, Cadbury Dairy Milk Chunk, Golden Barrel, Hazel Whirl, Caramel, Signature Truffle and Country Fudge.
You will notice it leans on hazelnuts. YouGov's poll agreed. Hazel in Caramel topped the Roses table on 28 per cent, with the Golden Barrel and Hazel Whirl tied on 25 behind it.
Nobody can agree why they are called Roses, which I find more interesting than if they could. One account says the name comes from Rose Brothers of Gainsborough, who built the wrapping machines. Then in 2020 the text on the tub itself credited Dorothy Cadbury's favourite flowers at Bournville. Two stories, both with some claim to being official. I prefer the machine one, on the grounds that it is less pretty and therefore more likely.
Roses are the quieter tub. Less drama than Quality Street, fewer fierce opinions, and they double as the classic Mothering Sunday gift, which tells you something about the sort of person they are aimed at. If I am buying for someone's mum, I buy the Roses tub and I do not overthink it. The Dairy Milk Chunk is the one that causes no argument at all, which in this category is almost suspicious. The Roses pouch, 270g, is the same sweets for a smaller house.
Celebrations, the easy tub
Mars came late to all this, in 1997, and did something different. Instead of inventing new sweets, it shrank the bars people already bought. The current eight are Mars, Snickers, Galaxy Caramel, Bounty, Twix, Galaxy, Milky Way and Maltesers.
For a Canadian partner this is the easy tub. You already know most of the names on the wrappers. And it contains the single most loved sweet in any of the four tubs, by YouGov's count: the Maltesers Teaser, on 39 per cent, with Galaxy on 29.
You will hear, at some point over Christmas, that Mars took the Bounty out. It did not. It ran a trial of Bounty-free tubs in a handful of Tesco shops for one Christmas in 2022, ITV covered it, and the Bounty is in the tub today, where the coconut people, and there are more of them than the polls suggest, know exactly where to find it.
The Celebrations tub is 500g, fifty-one chocolates, every one wrapped, and it is in stock now. The 325g pouch is coming in the container, and for stockings there is the mini box at 69g and the small carton.
Heroes, the late arrival
Cadbury saw what Mars had done with Celebrations and answered in September 1999 with Cadbury's Miniature Heroes. The tagline was "The people magnet", it sponsored Coronation Street, and the launch campaign cost £4.8 million. The name was shortened to Heroes in 2002, presumably once everybody had noticed they were miniature.
The current nine: Dairy Milk, Dairy Milk Caramel, Eclairs, Fudge, Twirl, Creme Egg Twisted, Crunchie Bits, Dinky Decker and Wispa. Wispa joined in 2015 and the Dinky Decker in 2019. The Crunchie was dropped in 2008 and came back as Crunchie Bits in 2019, the tub's twentieth birthday, when a YouGov poll had Crunchie and Twirl tied for favourite on 13 per cent each. In the 2017 poll, the Twirl narrowly beat Dairy Milk.
My favourite Heroes story is a production glitch at Christmas 2022, when some packs went out with two full-size Twirls where the miniatures should have been. Nobody who opened one of those complained.
Heroes is the children's tub, in my opinion, and I mean that kindly. It is all the bars they would choose at the till anyway, made small enough that you can pretend a handful is reasonable. The Heroes tub is 475g and in stock now, the 270g pouch is coming in the container, and if someone in your house insists British Dairy Milk tastes different from the Canadian kind, they are right.
After Eight, the grown-up in the corner
Nobody fights over After Eights. They come out with the coffee, and the only crime anyone commits is taking the last one and putting the box back on the table as though it still had something in it. Every house has one of those people. In mine it is probably me.
They were created in 1962 by Brian Sollitt, a confectioner at Rowntree's in York. Production moved from York to Castleford in 1970, and when Castleford closed in 2012 it moved again, to Halifax. The same Halifax factory as Quality Street, which means the two most Christmassy chocolates in Britain share an address in a town that shares a name with mine. Nestlé has owned the brand since 1988, and the factory makes more than a billion of them a year.
After Eight is the one I would put out for guests who are not British, because it needs no explaining and nobody has an opinion about it beyond "yes please". This year it is the 300g After Eight carton, which is the big one, and for the mint people who want something to hand round earlier in the evening, Quality Street's Matchmakers in Cool Mint and Zingy Orange are the stocking-sized answer.
Which one should I buy for which house?
I get asked this across the counter more than I get asked about beans, so I keep a rough answer ready.
| The household | What I would buy | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Brit married to a Canadian | Celebrations | They know the names on the wrappers, and the Teaser is the most loved sweet in any tub |
| Expat who wants the proper argument | Quality Street | Eleven sweets, strong opinions, and the Halifax story to tell while you eat them |
| Children in the house | Heroes | Twirl, Wispa, Crunchie Bits, Fudge. Nothing in there a child will hand back |
| Your mum, or anyone's mum | Roses | The hazelnut tub, the Mothering Sunday tub, the least likely to start anything |
| Guests after dinner | After Eight | No explaining required, goes with coffee, nobody rations them |
| Someone who likes a box with a lid | Milk Tray or Dairy Box | The proper box of chocolates, handed over whole |
| The toffee person | Walker's Nonsuch with the hammer | Because some people want to hit their sweets and should be allowed to |
If you can only buy one for a mixed room, buy Celebrations and a carton of After Eights and keep the Quality Street for yourself. Hide it somewhere the Canadians will not think to look. The airing cupboard has served me well.
What we have this year, and how to post two tubs for less
The tubs are here now. The Quality Street tub at 550g, the Roses tub, the Celebrations tub at 500g and the Heroes tub at 475g are all on the shelf at $34.99 sealed, and they ship from Halifax straight away.
Here is the trick for anyone sending more than one. Order two or more tubs and we pack them for the post at $27.99 a tub: we open the tubs, nest the empty tubs inside each other, pack the chocolates in around them, every one still in its own wrapper, and you refill the tubs at home. Same chocolates, one much smaller box, and a cheaper parcel for you. Mix and match Heroes, Roses and Celebrations from each tub's page, or pick two, three or four Quality Street tubs packed for the post. If you want a tub sealed and untouched, buy it as a single at the sealed price.
Coming in the Christmas container, on pre-order now and shipping as soon as it lands at the end of October: the Quality Street pouch at 300g, the Roses and Heroes pouches at 270g, and the Celebrations pouch at 325g, all $19.99. The sweets inside are the same sweets. For smaller houses and stockings there is the Quality Street carton at 220g, the Celebrations small carton and the mini box.
For the houses that want a proper box of chocolates handed over whole: Cadbury Milk Tray at 312g, and Nestlé Dairy Box in 160g and 322g.
For the toffee people, the Walker's Nonsuch Luxury Toffee Selection comes in at 400g with its own little hammer in the box, on pre-order for the container.
If you are counting down as well as sharing, the advent calendar guide is where the Heroes calendar lives. And there is money back on all of it through GBS Rewards, which is about the only part of Christmas that pays you.
Questions people ask us
What flavours are in Quality Street now?
Eleven, according to Nestlé: The Purple One, Green Triangle, Strawberry Delight, Orange Creme, Orange Chocolate Crunch, Toffee Penny, Toffee Finger, Caramel Swirl, Fudge, Coconut Eclair and Milk Choc Block. The Mint Fondant, Almond Octagon and Jaffa Toffee have been discontinued.
Is Quality Street really made in Halifax?
Yes, Halifax in West Yorkshire, in the same factory where Harold Mackintosh launched it in 1936. The same factory now makes After Eight. Nothing to do with Halifax, Nova Scotia, however much I would like it to be.
Did they take the Bounty out of Celebrations?
No. Mars ran a trial of Bounty-free tubs in some Tesco shops for one Christmas in 2022. It was never made permanent and the Bounty is in the current tub.
Which is more popular, Quality Street or Celebrations?
In a 2023 YouGov poll for MyVoucherCodes, Celebrations came first on 21 per cent, Quality Street second on about a fifth, Heroes third on 20 and Roses fourth on 15. A narrow win, and one I suspect the Purple One would like to contest.
Are you selling tubs or pouches this year?
Both. The Quality Street, Roses, Celebrations and Heroes tubs are in stock now. The pouches and cartons are on pre-order and ship as soon as the Christmas container lands at the end of October.
How does packing tubs for the post work?
Order two or more and we open the tubs, nest them, pack the wrapped chocolates around them and send it all in one box, at $27.99 a tub instead of $34.99. You refill the tubs at home. A single tub ships sealed at the sealed price.
Leave me the Green Triangles. I know you have some.