Crisps you’d climb a mountain for or so the ad said.
The crisp of choice as a youngster growing up in the 1970’s and 80’s. They had some great flavours which I seemed to curse as every time I stocked up the flavour was dropped i.e. Roast Lamb and Mint Sauce, Roast Pork and Apple Sauce.
Summary
Originally Tudor Crisps were an independent producer of potato crisps. Established in 1947 the company began to produce it’s crisps from a base in Sandyford, Newcastle Upon Tyne.
In 1961 Smiths Crisps who had a factory in Peterlee, Co. Durham acquired the Tudor brand. The new company became known as Smiths Tudor and production of both brands moved to the Peterlee factory.
Tudor enjoyed huge success during the 1970’s thanks to it’s memorable ads featuring a paper boy bribing another young boy with “a canny bag of Tudor” to deliver a paper to a nearby tower block.
Remember Steak and Onion flavour, Roast Lamb and Mint Sauce, Roast Pork and Apple Sauce?
Tudor Specials
Remember these? In 1991 Tudor launched a new limited range of ‘premium crisps “Tudor Specials” were thicker cut and crinkled. You could buy these in three flavours Roast Beef and Pickle, Gammon and Pineapple and Cream Cheese and Chives.
They were planned as an extension to the range rather than a standalone brand. A hugely successful advertising campaign saw the return of a certain paperboy. The advertising campaign was so successful it recouped it’s costs in the first year.
The Specials range disappeared alongside the rest of the brand in 2003.
Where Did They Go?
Nabisco who also owned Walkers Crisps bought Smiths Tudor in 1989.
It remained business as usual for the three crisps brands until in 2003, when Walkers decided to concentrate on it’s own core crisp range.
The Tudor brand was phased out along with most of the Smiths range, although some products such as Scampi Fries and Frazzles are still sold under the Smiths brand today.
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