Cadbury World
Cadbury World
Linden Road,
Bournville, Birmingham
B30 2LU
Tel: 0845 450 3599
About Cadbury World
Cadbury World is a fantastic, fun family day out in the West Midlands, located four miles south of Birmingham city centre on Linden Road in Bournville. One of the most historically important towns in Britain since the Industrial Revolution, it now boasts a unique family attraction that offers chocaholics and less frequent indulgers alike a terrific insight into how their favourite treats are manufactured. It draws in over 500,000 adherents a year and is open every day from mid-February, with selected openings during the winter (detailed at the Cadbury World website).
Cadbury World is housed in the visitor centre at the Bournville Cadbury factory where George Cadbury set up shop and built a model village with workers houses, as an exemplar for future community building. To this day, the Bournville Village Trust regulates planning permission and ensures that the houses and manufactory buildings have changed little since their construction - there isn’t even a pub in sight!
Cadbury World traces the history of the world-famous company’s growth, from the humble shop in Birmingham founded by the Cadbury brothers in the 19th century to the operation that allowed them to forge a chocolatier empire that spread across the globe and became a brand leader, with centuries of unsurpassed quality behind its famous name.
A ticket to Cadbury World takes the visitor on a trip through numerous stages in the production of the finished Cadbury products, and relates the history of chocolate itself, providing both and informative and entertaining look at the product and its origins, from the growth of cocoa beans in the wild to their importation into Europe and their placement on the shop shelf for our delectation.
Beginning in the Aztec Forest zone of the family attraction, the visitor is transported back in time to the world of the Mayan and Aztec Indians of Latin America. Ticket holders to Cadbury World can traverse a forest trail and learn how cocoa became central to the daily lives of the ancients, and appreciate its importance to the elite of those societies, notably rulers such as the redoubtable Emperor Moctezuma. Furthermore, the latterday choco-explorer can see who first brought the secret of chocolate back to the Old World, sparking off a love affair that has lasted for 500 years and goes on to this day.
In The Cadbury Story section of the family attraction, ticket holders are greeted by none other than founder John Cadbury – in virtual form - and regaled with tales of the early days and the struggle that the Cadbury family endured to establish the business. Their Quaker principles were key to their development of a new and different kind of factory, with worker welfare prioritised as never before – an unusual step forward for the Victorian era. John’s sons, Richard and George, then elaborate on the evolution of the enterprise, from the honing of their production methods and gradual improvement of the quality of their product, to the reasons for their relocation in 1879 to “the factory in a garden” that is Bournville. The secret behind its founding and its very naming are also revealed to the initiates into Cadbury World.
Next, visitors on a family day out can get to grips with Chocolate Making, delving into the production of liquid chocolate by way of some very special effects, which provide insights into how milk chocolate is made, from the raw ingredients to the final silky taste delight that is Cadbury chocolate.
Moving on to the Factory itself, while Health & Safety rules mean that ticket holders are granted only limited access, they can see all the essential areas of the family attraction’s working end, and it’s commonplace for visitors to follow a specially marked route through the moulding plant to see the wrapping of Cadbury Dairy Milk and other famous bars before they disappear through the floor for dispatch.
A family day out to Cadbury World also takes in Cadabra, where ticket holders can board a Beanmobile for a relaxing, not to say tempting, ride through a chocolate wonderland, populated by familiar characters from Cadbury ads including an animatronic parrot. The Beanmobiles – like the rest of Cadbury World - are adapted for wheelchairs, so everyone can enjoy a fun family day out. Indeed, Cadbury World was voted the Best Disabled Facility in the 2003 Group Leisure Magazine Awards, making it an ideal family attraction.
In the Demonstration Area, it’s possible to write your name in fresh liquid chocolate under the guidance of experienced Cadbury World demonstrators. The Cadbury and TV zone comprises an actual set used for Cadbury’s original sponsorship of TV’s Coronation Street. Those with memories stretching back to the 1950s will also be able to revel in characters from numerous memorable Cadbury TV ads such as the Cadbury Gorilla, with more recent campaigns including A Finger of Fudge, Everyone’s A Fruit and Nutcase, and the Flake crumbliest flakiest chocolate.
The family attraction’s Purple Planet allows choco-hunters to chase their sweet prey in the oval shape of a Cadbury Creme Egg, while there are displays showing how to grow your own cocoa beans and also how to mould a self-portrait in chocolate. The state of the art interactive exhibit includes an area where it literally rains chocolate, and ticket holders are not obliged to take an umbrella with them!
This summer, Cadbury World – Where Chocolate Comes to Life – is launching a new zone: Advertising Avenue. Take a nostalgic and retro walk through time in our life-size chocolate street taking a peek through the windows along the way.
See the adverts you grew up with and the adverts your great grandparents grew up with. Relive the delights only the Cadbury name can bring with the products that bring you more moments of pleasure. From beautifully designed posters from the turn of last century to Cadbury Creme Eggs who know they’re ‘here today, goo tomorrow’ – the new zone at Cadbury World has it all.
Made to look and feel like chocolate, you’ll walk through a wall of melted chocolate into our Avenue. Follow the road and pass through different architectural styles (John Cadbury began grinding cocoa nibs to form and sell drinking chocolate in Birmingham’s Bull Street in 1831 so we had to start somewhere!). Walking past trees made of chocolate, the buildings become more modern in style as you progress. Walk across the bridge to see the chocolate surfer from Australia, play the Milk Tray game to see if you can race your car and boat to the waiting lady – bringing her the chocolate she loves and see the original ‘double act’ Wispa adverts from the 1980s.
Watch how nearly fifty years of Flake advertising has developed – there’s been a Flake girl for every era, sing along to jingles you thought you’d forgotten and smile as sweet memories come flooding back. You’ll be surprised at how much you can remember.
At the end of Advertising Avenue enter the Music Shop and make sure you select a track from our Cadbury DJ and see "what is in the air tonight!" ….you’ll find a certain ape (drum sticks in hand) who has been waiting for this moment all his life.
The family attraction additionally boasts an Essence factory shop where ticket holders can stock up on Cadbury products at factory prices, while optional tours are on offer and kids can use a play area or watch a 3D video story in the interactive theatre. Groups and special occasions are catered for (with details via 0845 450 3599), including a Chocolate cruise and a trip down Memory Lane, while Christmas events are also detailed at the Cadbury World website.