Club Biscuits Through The Years

Jacob's Club Wafer wrapper from the 1980s

"If you like a lot of chocolate on your biscuit, join our Club". I'm sure many visitors to this site will remember the catchy song that featured in the Jacob's Club TV adverts back in the 1980s. Club has been a school lunchbox favourite for many decades, and although some flavours have disappeared over the years, two flavours that have stood the test of time are Orange and Mint, which are still available today. 

In this post, we're going to take a look back at Club biscuits through the years, including photos of old wrappers and advertisements.

History

The Club biscuit is not a British invention and actually originated in Ireland. It was introduced in the 1910s, and the first flavour was Club Milk, although there is some mystery over the exact year that W & R Jacob and Company started producing it. It's believed to be in the early 20th century, shortly before World War I, in Dublin. 

The original Club Milk featured playing cards on the wrapper, which was partly dark orange in colour. However, there was also a Club Domino milk chocolate fruit bar, which also had a dark orange wrapper. 

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Other flavours had different coloured wrappers and each of them featured an image of one of the ingredients used in the biscuit such as an orange, raisins and mint leaves. There is one exception, Club Golf, which featured a golf ball and a partly green wrapper.

1910s

Jacob's set-up a factory in Liverpool in 1914 and created two separate divisions manufacturing them in Ireland and the UK. They were bought out by the French company Danone in the mid 1990s, and many flavours were discontinued, upsetting many loyal consumers.

1960s

In the Swinging Sixties, four Club varieties were available, but only the Milk chocolate flavour was labelled as Club. Domino contained fruit (raisins) and milk chocolate, Golf was covered in plain chocolate, and Orange was flavoured with orange, as you would expect!

1970s

Jacob's introduced their new Club Fruit biscuit in the 1970s, which was previously Domino but now came in a purple wrapper and featured an image of a bunch of grapes. All varieties were now labelled as Club, with Golf labelled as Plain, although still featuring the word "Golf" on a golf ball. Club Mint was also introduced in the 1970s.

1980s

Club Wafer was introduced in 1986 but was discontinued in the mid-1990s. This had a partly blue wrapper with a picture of a half-eaten biscuit.

Club Coffee also launched in the 1980s. This featured a coffee cup & saucer graphic on the wrapper, which was brown and white. This was later discontinued.

1990s

Many flavours were phased out in the mid-1990s, when the brand was taken over by Danone, including Club Fruit, Milk, Dark and Wafer. The Fruit variety was a personal favourite, as I liked the contrasting texture of the soft raisins against the crunchy biscuit. 

Club Honeycomb was introduced in the mid-1990s, although I always preferred a Cadbury's Crunchie.

2000s

The brand was sold to United Biscuits in 2004, with the Irish sector of the company being sold to Fruitfield Foods to form Jacob Fruitfield Food Group.

2010s

In 2013, United decided to rebrand the biscuit as McVities Club in the UK. They also added Club Cake bars to the range later on in the decade. 

2024

In 2024, you can buy Club Mint, Club Orange, Club Salted Caramel, Club Orange Cake Crunchies and Honeycomb Cake Crunchies. 

TV Adverts

Join The Club Fan Club Advert

A song used in a 1984 ad, featured the slogan "Join the Club Fan Club", You can view this one below. 

Here are the lyrics; "When they've gone for a bite at the angling club, and it's all gone wobbly down the pottery club. If you're partner's waltzed off at the dancing club, they found a club, they really love. Well, who couldn't love a biscuit that's as chocolatey as Club? Who couldn't love a biscuit that's as chocolatey as Club? So come and be a member of the Club fan club." 

Everyone Lubs A Club Advert

No, that's not a typo in the heading above! There was another advert from 1986 featuring the song "Everyone lubs a Club", and the eagle-eyed among you will have spotted the wafer version, which was introduced in this year. 

A wide variety of people from all walks of life are in this ad, including a couple of dodgy-looking men in raincoats, a schoolgirl, a guy in a striped apron (possibly a butcher) and a business man with a bowler hat and briefcase, to name but a few. This represents the lyric "Have you ever seen such variety?". 

We hope you enjoyed reading about Club biscuits through the years. Here are some more photos of old wrappers...

Jacob's Club Milk wrapper from the 1970s, with Ace and Queen of Clubs playing cards

The Fruit Club (1980s) with purple grapes illustration

Jacob's Club Plain (1980s) with golf ball graphic

Jacob's Club Milk (1980s wrapper) with Queen of Clubs playing card