The team at Nestlé’s Fawdon factory has created a one-time only pack of Grapefruit flavour Fruit Pastilles in honour of Sir Ian McKellen’s 80th birthday.
Sir Ian was treated to a special tour of the factory site where he learned all about his favourite childhood sweet.
The tour started by highlighting the manufacturing processes behind Fruit Pastilles and conversations were had around some of Fawdon’s sustainability initiatives, something that Sir Ian is extremely passionate about. Sir Ian then shared some of his memories of the Fruit Pastilles brand while he was growing up. He recalled how, following the end of rationing in 1956, he would join his father at a local barbers to get his hands on some secret Fruit Pastilles being smuggled to customers.
Meg Miller, Brand Manager of Polo and Rowntree’s said: “It was a pleasure to have Sir Ian with us for the day. The team were touched to see the nostalgia and love he has for Fruit Pastilles and I am delighted that we could share some of the magic behind how we make his favourite sweet.”
Fruit Pastilles were launched as Rowntree’s first fruit sugar sweet in 1881 in five main flavours: blackcurrant, lemon, strawberry, lime and orange. Since then the Rowntree’s brand has been expanded to include Fruit Gums, Rowntree’s Jelly Tots, Rowntree’s Randoms and many more.