Margaret Louis / 25 June 2025 / Categories: Food & Drink

All we’ve got left is the Calippo

Anyone remember an Orange Maid or Strawberry Mivvi, a Lemonade Fizz

Or those lollies that were a cross between a frozen banana on a stick and an ice cream lolly. You cannot even buy a fab in the newsagents anymore, you have to buy these in multipacks in the supermarket and the walls Twister you can sometimes find in the icecream freezers of your local convenience store are usually so old semi defrosted and re frozen you wouldn’t want to eat them anyway. The ice cream man “Mr Whippy” is long gone so when the boiling temperatures of the last week hit 30

degrees I wonder what all the raspberry ripple lovers of old out there are eating.

You guessed right I love an ice cream sandwich, choc ice, ice lolly, even a small pot individual serving of ice cream however when I go to buy one all I am faced with is Magnum, a brand or product I don’t actually like. Or option B a bargain basement ice pop full of Es that used to cost 1p. That’s it.

Why me having to purchase two Calippos today, one full Size in Orange and one mini in Lemon and lime at a staggering £1.79 for the mini, with clear instructions on the back it’s was part of a multi pack and not to be sold individually, I felt a rant coming on.

I don’t understand why getting an individual ice cream from a convenience store or supermarket for that matter has become so difficult. Actually impossible.

And when I read Unilever, the massive company who own Walls who make the last man standing Calippo is being let go from the Unilever stable, ice cream has got the boot I wonder if enjoying a shop bought icecream in a wrapper will ever happen again, it feels like the dinosaurs, having an ice cream or ice lolly has pretty much become extinct.

I know you can buy a multi pack from the supermarket where the choice and selection is broader but what if you just want one on a hot day when you fancy it, to cool down, out and about.

It’s not always convenient to head home and raid the freezer and what about people who don’t have a freezer.

I know Booja Booja make individual pots of vegan icecream which are delicious but only available in specialty shops like whole foods, and not in every town or city or on every corner.

Ice cream and ice lollies must be a difficult market to crack in the Uk as in my lifetime it has almost disappeared which I find absolutely mind boggling. When everyone loves a frozen fruit lolly to quench your thirst.

Please someone come along and make gorgeous ices and lollies on the go, don’t let the only option be one flavour of a tropical solero, I didn’t even like mango but I’ve been forced to buy this frozen treat so many times now that’s not available I am disappointed and like I say I only bought it because there wasn’t anything else to choose from.(magnums aside)

I was pleased to see the vegan magnum appear pre pandemic and I did buy a few of these to support coupled with lack of choice but it didn’t last long. I haven’t seen a vegan magnum available for a couple of years now.

It’s crazy to me. I cannot be the only person interested in buying ice cream or ice lollies on the go. Now no one goes to the cinema anymore the idea of ice cream in the intermission has disappeared so too have all the ice cream and ice lolly eaters.

Anyone fancy a banana split or a knickerbocker glory. I do.

All I can think about is biting into a Kondike bar, right about now. That signature square shaped delight in a silver wrapper, a household name in the US. Maybe I need to start importing square choc ices. Someone’s got to sell us something better than what’s available in the UK today.