From smoky spider Monster Munch to Wallace and Gromit's moon cheese corn snacks, a new book is diving into the wildly colourful and often bizarre world of British crisp packet design. UK Crisp Packets 1970-2000 is a 140-page compendium that serves as a heavy hit of nostalgia, celebrating the garishly beautiful bags that housed our childhood snacks.
A Savoury Snapshot of Social History
The book, compiled by a 43-year-old artist known as Chris Packet, features an eclectic archive of designs. It ranges from mainstream favourites like Chipsticks and Frazzles to obscure regional brands from Penryn, Blackpool, and Wigan. The collection also includes a trove of TV and film tie-ins, featuring everyone from the Spice Girls and Sonic the Hedgehog to characters from Thunderbirds, Doctor Who, and Jurassic Park.
For Packet, the appeal is firmly in the artwork. "I'm from a graffiti and art background, so I'm interested in design," he says. "It's about the lettering, the illustration, the cartoon characters." He points to the original Space Raiders packet, designed by revered 2000AD comic artist Brett Ewins, as a prime example of lost artistry, lamenting that modern designs often lack the same character.
From Disused Tunnel to Definitive Archive
The story of this unique collection began in 2018, when Packet was exploring a disused train tunnel in London, once a site for 90s raves. There, on the ground, he found a tatty, decades-old pickled onion Space Raiders packet, marked 10p. Protected from the elements, it had survived as a piece of accidental history.
"They brought back strong memories from my childhood," Packet recalls. "I was also like, 'Wow, I forgot how good these graphics are.' I realised they were actually unique pieces of history." This initial find sparked a quest. He began scouring the internet and buying from collectors, with friends even discovering packets in places like a Second World War bunker in Dover, untouched since the 1980s.
Cultural Detritus Filled With Memory
The book features a foreword by Annebella Pollen, Professor of Visual and Material Culture at the University of Brighton. She describes the packets as "cultural detritus" that can tell an alternative history. Her introduction examines topics from gender representation to the decline of regional independent companies, and how crisps were strategically marketed to move from pub snacks into children's lunch boxes.
"This is children's culture," Pollen states of the vintage packets. She believes crisp nostalgia resonates deeply because it reminds people of their first autonomous choices, like spending a 10p piece in a tuck shop. "These may just be empty packets now," she says, "but we are filling them with memories."
Chris Packet sees the book as memorialising a golden era that faded after the year 2000, when computer-aided design began to replace hand-drawn artistry, resulting in a loss of detail and character. For anyone who remembers the thrill of a new packet of Discos or the weird wonder of hedgehog flavour, this collection is a crunchy, salty trip down memory lane.
UK Crisp Packets 1970-2000 is published by Sports Banger.
