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Mr After Eight dies aged 74

Nestlé UK & Ireland would like to pay tribute to Brian Sollit, who died aged 74, he was one of the foremost confectioners of his generation. Brian was a leading figure in the development of the After Eight mint, among many other successes in a long and fun-filled career.

Brian was born in York on 16th November 1938 just as wartime shortages were about to deprive his childhood of the sugar that would be his life-long passion.

Brian joined the York confectionery firm Rowntree’s in 1954, aged just fifteen. He was lucky enough to be chosen for the Cream Department where hand-piping chocolates gave him an opportunity to show off his flair for creative work and come to the notice of the department’s managers.
Less than ten years later, in 1962, Brian had risen through the ranks to become the Confectioner for the ‘Crème Experimentation’ division. Brian was called aside and asked, in secret, to help come up with a method for wrapping delicate squares of peppermint fondant in fine, dark chocolate. That was the very beginning of the After Eight mint and 50 years later Brian was still a fan. To mark the 50th anniversary of the after dinner mint in 2012, Brian came out of retirement to help make a celebratory giant After Eight.

 

Read more of our tribute to Brian here.