Careless Wispa removal reversed

SODA STREAM, Chopper bikes, Space Hoppers - true icons of the 1980s every one. But astride all these, like a delicately aerated chocolate colossus, stood the Wispa Bar until Cadbury cruelly wrenched it from our shelves.

And now, thanks to online power, the Wispa is back - proof, if it were needed, that the recession has restored our taste for retro snacks.

This week, Cadbury caved to the pressure of social networking sites and students with too much time on their hands, all clamouring to "Bring Back Wispa". Around 14,000 people joined Wispa revival groups on Facebook last year and the campaign went global when two Irish fans gate-crashed Iggy Pop's performance at Glastonbury 2007 with a "Bring Back Wispa" banner.

It's understood that those craving the "yielding velvety texture" of the Wispa were never really satisfied by Dairy Milk Bubbly, the product Cadbury bosses thought would take it's place.

The campaign here was spearheaded by three Cork students: Emily Hughes, Joy Allen and Louise Cremin. The intrepid trio (mmmm, Trio, Trioooo, sorry, bit distracted there by another old favourite) started a fan page for the bar on Bebo.

Last year the folk at Cadbury relented and brought back the Wispa for a limited period. All 3,006,288 bars were gobbled up across the country in a matter of weeks.

Following on from this success, the company decided to revive the Wispa permanently and it's back on Irish shelves from this week.

Scenes of chocolate carnage are expected in Irish supermarkets given that a London branch of Woolworths - the first UK shop to receive stock of the bar - had to hire security guards after the launch was leaked on the internet.

In the meantime, who knows what other treats of yore could be rescued from the retro sweet graveyard?

We're talking about the Macaroon, with its exotic coconut flavour. And the Big Time bar, for that tooth-cracking toffee taste of pre-Celtic Tiger Ireland. Not to mention the lovely, chewy Catch and don't get us started on Peggy's Leg.

Actually, scrap that last one. Peggy's Leg, a misshapen stick of very sticky candy, should probably be consigned to the same confectionary dustbin as Gur Cake, which for younger readers was essentially bits of old stale cakes mashed up to give the appearance of a slice of dead flies.

When it comes to retro revivals, you really have to pick your battles. With that in mind the campaign for the return of the Texan Bar - oh, how we miss you sweet, soft toffee smothered with dubious quality crumbly chocolate - starts here.