I had a moment of panic when I googled York and found out that despite my self-proclaimed sweet tooth, I didn’t even know that York had the title of “chocolate city”. I didn’t even know that there was an attraction named York’s Chocolate Story. But once I heard of this attraction, I knew that we had to visit (you know, having a sweet tooth and all). Luckily for me, my brother loves chocolate as well – Cadbury World is his third favourite place in the UK, behind Edinburgh and the Isle of Skye – and between the two of us, we managed to get my family to York’s Chocolate Story.

My Review of York’s Chocolate Story

We just walked in, but the attraction uses a timed entrance and we had to wait for the next tour. I’d recommend buying tickets to this first and then exploring York while you wait – this is just next to the Shambles so there is a lot to explore while waiting.

The tour starts on the top floor with a history of chocolate and how it came to York. Unlike Cadbury World, the chocolate that they give out is related to the content of the tour – e.g. what the first chocolate bars were like, what the original chocolate drink might have tasted like, and so forth. There are no pictures allowed for this level and the only reason I have this is because someone pulled a fire alarm by mistake and we all had to evacuate.

When the fire alarm evacuation was over and the tour resumed, we were brought to the second floor. Here, we went through how chocolate was made and had a quick lesson on how to appreciate chocolate. This was the most interactive floor and it also had:

A Kitkat Exhibition: I think this is temporary but it was very interesting. Kitkat is huge in Japan so I’ve eaten more than my fair share while I was there. To be honest, I didn’t know that Kitkat came from York as a product of Rowntree’s until my visit!

A hands-on section where you make your own chocolate lolly: This was very fun, although I have no artistic skill and don’t really like toppings so I just covered my chocolate lolly with cereal bits.

You can see the three toppings that we had here.

A chocolate making demonstration: A chocolatier made chocolate truffles and they were amazing. I really enjoyed this and the chocolates went way too fast – the staff mentioned we could bring the leftovers home but there weren’t any!

You’ll exit the shop through the gift shop and cafe and it is full of temptations. Apart from souvenirs, I also got a book on the history of chocolate in York and some of these:

ROALD DAHL CHOCOLATE!!

It’s the perfect snack for a bookworm. I got Miss Honey’s Honey Crunch and it’s sitting in my fridge because I can’t bear to open it. Don’t worry, there’s still quite some time to go before it expires – I’m just thinking of the best way to eat it (maybe while re-reading Matilda?)

York’s Chocolate Story vs Cadbury World

The fact that we had already visited Cadbury World in a previous trip meant that my family was a little hesitant to visit York’s Chocolate Story. After all, how different can two chocolate exhibitions be?

Well, here’s my take on things:

Cadbury World is

• Bigger
• There are staff showing you around here and there but you are also going to spend a lot of time just walking through the exhibits
• Kid-oriented: there are rides and a playground
• Lots of free Cadbury chocolates
• Seasonal Events

York’s Chocolate Story is:

• Focused on York: It’s not just about chocolate
• Friendly staff that’s assigned to your group
• Personally, I preferred the way they structured the history here
• Chocolates given are related to the content: So you may not enjoy everything – the chocolate drink was definitely not for everyone
• More hands-on: Cadbury World’s hands-on activity was just mixing toppings into melted chocolate, while for York’s Chocolate Story, we made chocolate lollies that could be brought back

Within my family, the older members preferred York’s Chocolate Story, while the younger members preferred Cadbury World. That said, I wouldn’t say that York’s Chocolate Story is only for adults or that Cadbury World is only for kids – we enjoyed them both but preferred different attractions. Personally, I think both places are great and I enjoyed visiting both of them. I think each place has their own strength and that if you can visit both of them, you should go for it.