It’s a bit late for pantomine (although, in years past the more successful ones would only stop by being kicked out for summer seasons to start) but I had someone the other day insisting that you would never have seen a KitKat being sold from the same, mechanical we’re talking of course, machine, as Cadbury’s.
By the late ’80s the in-house vending division of Cadbury’s had [allegedly – ed.] seen better days and I’d suggest they didn’t really know which way to turn, though bear in mind that machines selling about 20-30 different products and sorting coins, change etc… electronically had had a head start in Europe and the US for about ten years at this point.
Pricing, bar varieties and graphics suggests a late 80’s or very early 90s Cadbury machine – almost certainly NOT made by Barber Weston (Weston-super-Mare) nor BDR (Bristol) – which seems to try and at least make up for the single selection machines of the past – and crucially adds a competitor into the mix! I am fairly certain that this is an in-house effort – the emphasis is clearly on Cadbury and the sticker is very specific to their vending products – and the KitKat window sticker looks professionally made to match the others. Despite that, this must have surely been the swan-song for the vending division?
A picture doesn’t have to tell a thousand words – just one (or two) are enough here.