Thus the trend in the 1920s was for increased leisure and with the growing popularity of private cars Rowntree introduced Motoring Chocolate (1926) which could be kept in the glove box. This brand, however, only survived until 1964.

      Many of Rowntree's most famous products only appeared in the 1930s including Black Magic, Aero and Kit Kat. The bubble-filled Aero bar was marketed at its launch in 1935 as the 'new chocolate' and was originally going to be called Airways to cash-in on the publics' new found fascination with air travel. Kit Kat, first known as Rowntree's Chocolate Crisp, appeared in the shops in September 1935 and was probably named after the famous Kit Kat Club of the 1920s. It went on to become Britain's top confectionery and biscuit brand. In 1937 Rowntrees launched yet another new product: Chocolate Beans. One year later they were re-named Smarties and were now sold in the familiar, though soon to be replaced, cardboard tube.

            Compared to Joseph Terry and Henry Rowntree, John Mackintosh was a relative latecomer to the confectionery business. In 1890, the 22 year old Mackintosh opened a shop in King's Cross Lane, Halifax and was soon producing a new type of toffee which blended traditional brittle British toffee with the soft chewy caramel toffee found in the United States. The business grew and occupied several sites in Halifax including purpose built factories in Queens Road. Although John Mackintosh died of a heart attack in 1920 the business continued under his family with chocolate lines being introduced from 1924.  The acquisition, in 1932, of a Norwich-based confectionery firm led to an expansion of the chocolate range with the introduction of the famous Quality Street chocolate assortment in 1936 and Rolo in 1937. Quality Street was named after a play by J.M. Barrie and the  figures depicted on traditional packaging were inspired by two of its main characters: Phoebe Throssel and Valentine Brown.

         In East Yorkshire, too, the late nineteenth century saw the rise of another confectionery empire, again by a 22 year old trying to make his mark on the business world. In 1886 Frederick Needler, a devout Methodist, used £100 of his mother's money to buy the equipment of one of Hull's boiled sweet makers. The sugar confectionery trade at that time was dominated by small scale producers but Needler's exceptional business flair enabled him to outpace his rivals. By 1900 Needler's Spring Street factory in Hull was employing 33 people and manufacturing a range of confectionery products including boiled sweets, toffees, pralines and rock. Increasing demand for his sweets soon forced a move to a new factory off Sculcoates Lane, Hull(1906) and within ten years the company had moved into chocolate production with a large scale investment in buildings and equipment.