I always thought that wagon wheel biscuits used to be much bigger than they are now... Of course, that could be a false memory based on a young boy's impression of biscuit size.
Today I found some evidence in the form of a wagon wheel wrapper. My guess is that this dates from late 60s. As now, they were made by Burtons, whose Website boasts that
George,
where in the name of the wee man (we could put that in the words we used thread) did you find a Wagon-Wheel wrapper from the 60's ???
Have you been tidying up in the loft or under the bed ???
You've got the right idea John. I have been sifting through boxes of books and papers that I retrieved from my parent's home after my Father passed away last year. This was the only biscuit wrapper that I found, although I don't recall why it was there.
Following extensive research (i.e., Google) on whether wagon wheels have shrunk, I learned the following:
The original factory which produced the biscuit in Slough during the early 1980s were transferred to an updated and modern factory in Llantarnam in South Wales. The original factory in Slough produced the biscuit with crinkled edges and corn cobbs rather than the updated smoother edges. This caused the overall diameter of the biscuit to shrink slightly, but not as much as fans of the biscuit believe.
Also, although the UK Wagon Wheel has barely shrunk, it is still noticeably smaller than the Australian equivalent. The diameter of the Australian version is measured at 88 mm which is 14 mm larger than the UK version. Even though the Australian version is wider in diameter, the UK Wagon Wheel is notably thicker by 4 mm.
As of October 2006, the Canadian Wagon Wheel measured 70mm x 17mm
There is a little food shop round the corner from my work (greasy spoon type place) and they make their own wagon wheels, these things are massive and this thread might just give me an excuse to go and buy one. Only to take a picture of course .
John Donnelly wrote: ↑Tue Jul 30, 2019 3:08 pm
George,
where in the name of the wee man (we could put that in the words we used thread) did you find a Wagon-Wheel wrapper from the 60's ???
Have you been tidying up in the loft or under the bed ???
creamolafoam wrote: ↑Sat Aug 03, 2019 10:18 pm
Haven’t seen a taxi biscuit for yrs. You can still get blue ribands. Personal favourite was a bandit, which is long gone as well
You're no looking hard enough we bought carmel taxis last week !!! A poor mans tunnocks Carmel wafer.
georgersweir wrote: ↑Tue Jul 30, 2019 3:21 pm
You've got the right idea John. I have been sifting through boxes of books and papers that I retrieved from my parent's home after my Father passed away last year. This was the only biscuit wrapper that I found, although I don't recall why it was there.
Hi George,
This brought back a memory which I had almost forgotten.
When we cleared out the family home a few years ago after my brother died, I took a box of old papers and photos back home with me. Among them, I came across a Vernons football coupon adressed to my father which had not been filled in. He did the pools religiously every week and was convinced (unfortunately erroniously) that he would get a big win sometime.
I've still got it in a box somewhere. It will probably come to the surface shortly when we move to our new apartment in ten days time.
