Choc off
Richard Hunt wrote:
MIG wrote:
Richard Hunt wrote:
RPM wrote:
Most are owned by Cadbury Schweppes. They tried to persuade me to
have Coke & chocolate machines on my stations when I was a Station
Manager. I turned them down because I thought the booking office
staff had enough to deal with without fending off endless
complaints from people who lost money in the machines. Call me a
cynic if you want.
I'm surprised that discretion to have vending machines installed or
operated at stations would be devolved down to Station Manager
level. I would have expected it to be taken higher up the chain -
these days with the ROC that manages the station, or with the
station's catering providers, previously on a Regional level or by
Traveller's Fare.
Back in the 1980s, all of the chocolate vending machines on railway
stations seemed to be branded Nestle. Come to think of it, I have
never seen Nestle milk chocolate, plain chocolate or Feast bars on
sale over the counter. If I recall correctly, the milk chocolate
was wrapped with waxed paper rather than foil.
Underground were Cadburys and British Rail were Nestle in those days.
You could certainly get Nestle Dairy Crunch (or whatever it was
called; the rice crispy thing) over the counter.
Yes, but I wonder why there wasa a split like that, and why/when did it
change?
That was when Nestle was down Bath way somewhere, before they took
over Rowntrees in York, and then closed that down.
Nestle's UK head office used to be in Croydon.
True, but there was (maybe still is) a factory down West.
Rowntree's works were rail-connected, and I think remained so until the
mid-late 1980s.
The trackbed is still intact I think.
I don't think that the other big York chocolate firm, Terry's, ever was
rail connected.
Richard Hunt
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