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Like the Jacob’s Trio, here’s another blast from the past chocolate bar that’s no longer available. It was called United, and I’m presuming it was also manufactured by United Biscuits, though I don’t know for sure. I haven’t been able to track down an image at all, but hopefully this description might jog the old grey cells a little.
The bar itself was divided into three bite size chunks, and consisted, if I remember correctly anyway, of a biscuit base coated in fairly thick chocolate. The chocolate contained little bits of that strange crunchy honeycomby stuff. I’m not sure exactly what you call it, but the closest thing I can compare it to that is currently available in the UK are the crunchy bits in a Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Mint or Orange Crunch chocolate bar. I suspect it was actually nothing more than lumps of crystallised sugar, but it could have been little biscuit crumbs perhaps?
Anyway, that’s how I remember them. They were very tasty, and available in two varieties. Original flavour (whatever an “original” is), which was in a blue wrapper, and an orange flavoured one (unsurprisingly in an orange wrapper). The only other thing I remember about them is that the TV advert was based around football fans, given that the name of the biscuit is also an often used shortening for football teams such as Manchester United.
Does anyone else out there remember these?
June 12th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
I remember the song. My name is Stan, i am a fan, and im delighted to eat United. We are the fellas, the shouters and yellers, and we’re dlighted to eat United. I am the boss and sometimes i get very cross, but even im delighted to eat United. . We’re all delighted to eat United
June 13th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Robbo, what can I say! Excellent memory recall.
I remember the advert being themed around football fans but I had completely forgotten the words to it. Nice one!
July 9th, 2008 at 12:47 am
Wasn’t the wrapper chequered?
They were really yummy and the crunchy bits were the best!
January 20th, 2009 at 2:43 am
remember some Celtic fans chanting at man utd fans “united’s a biscuit” early 90′s at old trafford
January 27th, 2009 at 12:06 am
Yes the wrapper was blue and chequered and the bits in the chocolate were honeycomb pieces. I used to love ths biscuit and eat pretty much one every day from the age of about 5 – 10 yrs old. I would love to eat one again.
Thanks for describing it so well. I think it could of been produced my Mcvities but not sure.
Cheers
January 27th, 2009 at 7:40 am
Hi Bobby – Now you mention it McVities does sound right. If you say the two names together – McVities United – it brings back a slight tingle of the tv advert.
January 30th, 2009 at 9:01 pm
yes i remember then well i can see then taste then,,,,
please bring then back……….
February 11th, 2009 at 12:13 am
What can I say. These were my favourite biscuits as a nipper, used to have them in my packed lunch in ickle school. I think it would only be fair, in light of this whole ‘retro’ thing, that McVities brought them back. If it’s good enough for Wispa it’s certainly good enough for Orange United!
March 24th, 2009 at 11:14 am
Greatest chocolate biscuit ever!!
Though only the early 1980s honeycomb version. After a short break, they returned in the mid 80s with the same name and wrapper – but just biscuit and milk chocolate (no honeycomb). Basically a Club biscuit in a Utd wrapper. I suspect that the resulting sales drop is why they were ditched completely…
May 19th, 2009 at 11:17 am
mate, i loved united, absolutely loved them, the orange ones were biscuit nirvana. i would pay hundreds to get my hands on a six pack..
May 19th, 2009 at 11:20 am
raisin club, surely the horror of opening your lunch box and finding your mum had put one of those in for you is unsurpassed to this day
May 19th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
We don’t get many comments from haircuts, so welcome Simon Le Bons Barnet!
I preferred the orange United too, and I think I have to agree with you that the raisin Clubs were the worst ones. Far too dry…
June 18th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
I remember the song clearly. It went “We’re all delighted…to eat United” in a sort of sing-songy football-chanty way. I loved those biscuits. The chocolate was easy to separate from the biscuit – as is only right and proper!!
October 16th, 2009 at 11:10 pm
Oh man, I LOVED United biscuits!
October 31st, 2009 at 10:00 pm
wow united me & my mate loved them & the advert pls pls bring them back a united in ur skool lunchbox was heaven…
January 16th, 2010 at 2:05 pm
I also loved United, it was my favourite biscuit apart from Trio and there is nothing currently on sale quite like it.
Heres a link to the united tv ad, in this ad break.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uymwXFqS7I4&feature=related
They have to be brougt back.. What is confusing is that the Mc Vities brand is today owned by the united biscuits company so I presume this would cause problems if they tried to bring it back.
February 26th, 2010 at 10:38 pm
The chant to Manchester united fans when they wasn’t so big a club (forgive the pun) was “theres only one United and thats a chocolate biscuit”
back in the eightees
March 2nd, 2010 at 6:56 pm
They were the best, I ate them every day too in my lunch box, and the odd whole multi pack when no one was looking!
Bring them back!
April 29th, 2010 at 7:44 pm
moved to the Uk in 84 first think u fell in love with was the united biscuit!
God I’d do anything to have one again!
Insanity ceasing production of these!
Imagine the money theyd make with a variety pack with these and trios and other lost biscuits!
May 10th, 2010 at 3:07 pm
I loved United biscuits as well. Cadbury’s have brought out a Crunchie biscuit and they sell them in ASDA. They taste as near to a United as I can remember. Not as good but def reminds me of a United.
I liked a banjo and a Trophy. Two fingers of wafery nutty bisuit. Anyone else remember Bandits?
May 10th, 2010 at 3:39 pm
Yes, you’re right Anne. I’ve tried those Crunchie biscuits and they are very nice, not quite a United but the closest thing currently available I think.
I remember the wrapper for Banjo, blue with yellow writing I think it was. I think they were a wafer biscuit, weren’t they. Don’t remember Trophy or Bandits though.
May 24th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
Hi all I can confirm that united bar was a product of McVitie’s produced at the
Manchester site. we have just run a memory lane day with many Photos and in fact we had some of the blue-striped wrappers. The biscuit moved to be produced at our Carlisle factory. Before being decommissioned.
May 24th, 2010 at 2:59 pm
Thanks J Waterhouse (who appears to work for McVities/United) for clearing up the maker of these great biscuits.
A pity they got dropped. No chance of bringing them back I suppose – it would make a lot of people happy!
May 30th, 2010 at 5:26 pm
Unfortunately money talks and believe or not sales dropped and sadly so was the biscuit. Many think the biscuits connection with Manchester United football club was why sales dropped. Speculation I must stress. However retro is the buzz word so who knows.
May 31st, 2010 at 10:05 pm
Fingers crossed then. I would certainly buy them, the chocolate biscuit bars available today all seem to be fairly similar – or at least the ones stocked by my local supermarkets are anyway.
September 15th, 2010 at 4:12 pm
We loved United Biscuits Please bring them back!!!They were scrummy!! Although unlike Simon le bons barnet we actually enjoyed fruit clubs!! I’m sure if they brought back the original honeycomb and orange biscuits they would do well in todays market!!
September 15th, 2010 at 4:37 pm
I never realised that the hair of celebrities enjoyed chocolate bars so much…
November 18th, 2010 at 6:28 pm
COME ON EVERYONE!! WE ALL MISS UNITED BISCUITS! AND THE CHANT THAT WENT WITH THEM!!! OUR BELLIES AINT BEEN THE SAME SINCE THEY DISAPPEARED OFF THE SHELVES!!
WHO WHO WHO HAS GOT SOME STASHED AWAY IN THEIR LARDERS??? YOU KNOW YOU HAVE…COME ON SHARE EM…OR AT LEAST TAKE A PICCIE OF EM AND POST EM ON THIS PAGE….
LETS START A CAMPAIGN!! BRING BACK UNITED BISCUITS.COM. !!!!!!!
YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO….
November 23rd, 2010 at 2:08 pm
Orange kit kats have a very similar taste, from my memory anyway. Different texture, but similar taste. I just had an orange kit kat for the first time and instantly thought “United” and a quick Google brought me here!
December 8th, 2010 at 5:56 pm
United’s I recall with much fondness. My father was a sales manager for United Biscuits during the ’70s and ’80s. As a result we had a garage full of ‘samples’ many biscuits and whenever a new biscuit came out, we’d have loads. I would come home from school and just eat bar after bar. I have to say that 6 was about my limit. However. does anyone remember the fore runner to United’s? It was a bar called Sports and was very similar to a breakaway (pretty much a United without the honeycombe). That truely was a fine biscuite and I could typically eat 20-30 straight off after school (and didn’t put on weight in those days)
December 10th, 2010 at 12:34 pm
Ooh, you Jammy Dodger!! Everybody at your school must have wanted to come back and play at your house…
December 13th, 2010 at 3:52 pm
yes yes yes orange united rocked. i loved them they were the best, bring them back.
can anyone start a bring back united chocolate bar facebook group. i will join.
December 20th, 2010 at 3:06 am
Yes, I lived in Scotland in the 70’s and 80’s and remember the cartoon ad of a guy with a football scarf.. I think the tune went ‘My name is Dan….and I’m a fan….and I’m delighted….to eat United’. That’s all I remember.
February 9th, 2011 at 4:58 pm
as i was eating the biscuit i am at the moment it tasted exactly like a united which prompted me to google it and subsequently came accross this website!!
the biscuit i’m eating at the moment i hear you ask….?
cadbury’s Crunchie(as in ‘thank friday it’s…’) biscuits.
they taste exactly like the old united biscuits!!
February 9th, 2011 at 9:51 pm
I seem to recall hearing something similar recently about the Crunchie biscuit. Might have to pick up a pack of them to see for myself – purely in the name of investigative journalism you realise…
February 13th, 2011 at 2:44 pm
I loved United biscuits. Used to have them in my Fraggle’s lunchbox in little school. And yes Bob, I remember Sports – they had golf balls and stuff on the wrapper didn’t they? Does anyone remember how the wrappers on chocolate biscuits used to be different in the 80s as well – a thin foil outer layer with a waxy backing paper.
July 3rd, 2011 at 2:54 am
people rejoice!!!
while it may well not be th real thing if you want the taste of the united back then buy Cadbury’s new BiscBits – honeycomb crunch!!! they are small hoop shaped biscuits with an all to familiar taste!!
July 4th, 2011 at 9:05 pm
I’ve seen these in the shops Nick but have passed them by until now. Will have to invest in a pack to “do some research”.
July 19th, 2011 at 1:16 am
Please bring them back! They were SOOOOO good. My mom’s family is from Ireland and they would always bring us some. My dad would hide his stash. I don’t know why, but I thought of them today and was hoping I would find a website where I could purchase them.
October 23rd, 2011 at 5:35 pm
THANKYOU i just had a cadbury crunchie biscuit and the taste was so familiar it had me and hubby racking our brains trying to remember the name of the biccie it reminded us of! UNITED!
January 8th, 2012 at 12:39 pm
A yummy biscuit from my past glad there are a few other fans of this great tasting biscuit
January 11th, 2012 at 9:36 am
Hi I work for united biscuits and worked on the united plant We produced standard plus orange and mint as well as sport We also made a micky mouse bar biscuit for euro disney all made on the same plant
January 30th, 2012 at 8:23 pm
J Fitzgerald, so i NEED to know what happened to the united bar? Will they ever be able to get hold of?? please reply
February 1st, 2012 at 11:06 pm
Without doubt the best best biscuit bar to ever be made…and for those who remember the ad…
“I am Stan, I am a fan
And I’m delighted to eat United.â€
“We are the fellas,
The shouters and yellers,
And we never miss
That crunchy candy crisp.â€
“I am the Boss,
And some things make me cross,
But even I’m delighted
To eat United.â€
“We’re all delighted to eat United!â€
February 7th, 2012 at 10:39 pm
Hi Sales dropped so ub decided to move it to another factory with the addition of gold bar before fazing it out The area vacated became mini jaffa I have a face book page with rare pics of the product Just look up mcvities united bar I will be adding info and pics videos over the coming months regards john
February 8th, 2012 at 9:12 am
Here’s a link to John’s Facebook page. Keep the pictures coming John. I was particularly pleased to see a picture of the orange variety on your page.
February 8th, 2012 at 4:34 pm
Thanks for the link Feel free to comment /like Regards John
April 27th, 2012 at 12:26 am
jacobs club have a new honeycombe flavour in a yellow pack not quite united but close
May 10th, 2012 at 9:01 pm
hmm i miss United biscuits… they were my fav! Crunchie biscuits are the nearest thing these days – but not as good
June 12th, 2012 at 8:50 am
I’m TRYING to get them back…not very sucessfully mind…..
https://www.facebook.com/groups/85460019780/
September 3rd, 2012 at 3:20 pm
Nevrr mind the beautiful uniteds and sports bars…….does anyone remember ‘quirks’ they were basically a mint smartie in a little brown box- gorg!!!
September 24th, 2012 at 8:45 pm
We, (my siblings and I) used to get Uniteds, Breakaways, Trios etc with our packed lunches every day in primary school. We still talk fondly about the time we got a pack that must have missed QC – the bars were solid chooclate, the buscuit bit missing!!
September 24th, 2012 at 8:50 pm
I remember having a similar pack of Kit Kats once that were missing the wafer entirely. Yum!
September 28th, 2012 at 11:27 am
The was a football chant about this biscuit. They were made by McVities. Check out the T-shirt on the link http://www.pop-tops.co.uk/index.php/theres-only-one-united-and-thats-a-chocolate-biscuit-t-shirt.html