Who knew that York is the chocolate capital of the UK? Not me. But it is. Always learning new things.
York is home to the Rowntree family, Victorian Avengers, except instead of fighting crime they fought the national shortage of chocolate biscuits and moral decency. They were Quakers, so they didn’t drink, didn’t gamble, and were all round good guys who accidentally created a chocolate empire so powerful that half of Britain’s childhood memories now smell faintly of cocoa and foil wrappers.
Imagine being a Rowntree kid: Other families argue about chores. Rowntree kids argue about which new chocolate to invent next. “Clean your room!” “No, Mum, I’m busy revolutionising confectionery.” And revolutionise they did. They gave us KitKats, Fruit Pastilles and Smarties. Yep, Kit Kat, the most popular chocolate bar in the world started life in York.
The York Chocolate Story is basically Willy Wonka’s factory, but with fewer health‑and‑safety violations and significantly more people pretending they “don’t even like chocolate that much” while inhaling free samples like a Dyson.
It’s the only museum where you learn the history of the Rowntree family, Quaker values, global trade - while simultaneously trying not to look feral as you dip your hand into a bowl of chocolate goodies.
Time to learn the secrets of tempering chocolate. Must be fun for the patient tour guides watching mainly adults create misshapen chocolate lollypops that look like abstract art. By the end, I'd learnt a lot, eaten even more, and left thinking: “I could definitely become a chocolatier.” i could not - but York lets you dream and I left smelling of chocolate.
Add comment
Comments