Refreshers have been on sweet-shop shelves for seventy years, which makes the fizzy little chew bar considerably older than most of the people buying it today.
Launched in 1955, with a trademark problem built in
Swizzels, a company founded in 1928, launched the original Refreshers in 1955 — which makes the sweet itself younger than the business behind it by nearly three decades. The product's official name has always been the slightly clunky New Refreshers, a workaround for the fact that Barratt already sold its own, unrelated sweet called Refreshers: a compressed sherbet tablet rather than a chew bar. The trademark issue never really mattered to shoppers, who have called them Refreshers regardless for seventy years.
The chew bar format
The Refreshers most people picture is the Countlines chew bar — a small, individually wrapped fizzy chew, built around a sherbet centre rather than a solid sweet all the way through. The Original Lemon Chew Bar anchors the range, with strawberry, sour apple and cherry cola variants added to the lineup over the years as the brand expanded beyond the single original flavour.
Seventy years on, still adding flavours
Swizzels marked Refreshers' 70th anniversary in 2025 with a new Tropical Chew Bar, a mango and pineapple flavour added to the long-running Countlines range — proof the format's still active rather than coasting purely on nostalgia. It's a reasonable reminder that a sweet this old isn't necessarily a relic: new flavours still get added to a seventy-year-old format when there's appetite for them.
What we stock
We carry the Swizzels Refreshers 3kg bulk bag alongside the chew bars by the case: Original Lemon, Strawberry and Sour Apple, plus Swizzels Atomix Refreshers sour fruit chews, all within our wider Swizzels range.
Frequently asked questions
When were Refreshers first made?
1955, by Swizzels, under the official name New Refreshers.
Why are they officially called 'New Refreshers'?
To avoid a trademark clash with Barratt's own, separate compressed sherbet tablet also called Refreshers.
What flavour was the original Refreshers chew bar?
Lemon — still the anchor of the range, with strawberry, sour apple, cherry cola and a 2025 tropical flavour added since.
What Refreshers products does Supreme Sweets stock?
The 3kg bulk bag, Original Lemon, Strawberry and Sour Apple chew bars, and Atomix Refreshers sour fruit chews.
Sources: Swizzels: Our History; Food Manufacture; Wikipedia: Swizzels.