Daughter of Freddo creator reveals he would 'roll in his grave' if he could see
Now, the daughter of the man who created it has revealed why she won't buy Freddos any longer.
Harry Melbourne came up with the idea for the sweet treat almost a century ago, when he was just a teenager. After migrating from England to Australia, he began working at MacPherson Robertson's confectionary factory in Melbourne.
There, he convinced his boss to change the shape from a mouse – which might scare children, he argued – to a friendly frog. On the shelves in Australia, the chocolate sold for a penny.
Since then, internet sleuths have argued the treat has shrunk in size and rocketed in price in the UK – reportedly reaching up to £1 in some shops.
Harry's daughter, Leonie Wadin, has now said that while she once waited for her father to come home with boxes of Freddos, she has not bought one since his death in 2007.
The 74-year-old told Sky News: 'Dad was disgusted with how small it is now and how much they charge for it.
'He'd roll over in his grave if he could see it now; he'd be disgusted. It was a penny chocolate.'
She added that while the modern price of Freddo would upset her father, he would have been 'so proud' to learn of its popularity in his native Britain – and his great-grandchildren do still purchase the bars.
'They're very proud of their great-grandad, they still buy them, they love them,' Leonie said. 'Carry on through every heritage, that's what I want.
'The Freddo has to be passed on, Freddo is never going to die. It will always be there.
'I just want it all passed down, so that the frog is always in our lives.'
In the UK in 1999, a Freddo cost 10p. Nowadays, Tesco stocks the single bar for 30p, while Asda asks for 35p. Sainsbury's charges a whopping 45p.
Factoring in rising wages, shoppers can seemingly get more Freddos for their money, relative to how much they're earning.
In 1999, the newly-introduced National Minimum Wage was £3.60 for workers aged 22 and over – meaning, pre-tax, you could buy around 36 bars for an hour's work.
As of April 2025, the minimum wage is £12.21 an hour, equating to 40 bars.
Additionally, Freddo's size has remained fairly stable in the UK, at around 18g. So, accusations of 'shrink-flation' appear unfounded. In Australia, the bar is lighter – at 12g – perhaps explaining Leonie's concern.
However, the cost of a Freddo bar has apparently outstripped inflation. At its UK relaunch in 1994, a Freddo cost 10p. It remained at that price until 2007. More Trending
If the price of a Freddo has increased in line with inflation, a bar would sell today for about 21p, according to the Bank of England's inflation calculator.
Mondelez International, which owns Cadbury, told Sky News: 'Freddo has endured popularity across generations since originally launching in the UK back in 1973, and continues to be a key part of Cadbury's range today.
'Whilst it's important to stress that as a manufacturer we do not set the retail prices for products sold in shops, our manufacturing and supply chain costs have increased significantly over the past 50 years, and Freddo has become more expensive to make.
'We have absorbed these increased costs wherever possible, however on occasion we have made changes to our list prices or multipack sizes to ensure that we can continue to provide consumers with the Freddo that they love, without compromising on the great taste and quality they expect.'
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The Independent
14 hours ago
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Iconic chocolate bar creator would be ‘disgusted' with snack, daughter claims
Leonie Wadin, daughter of Freddo inventor Harry Melbourne, believes her father would be 'disgusted' by the chocolate bar 's current small size and high price. Harry Melbourne created the frog-shaped bar in Australia around a century ago, originally costing just a penny. The Freddo has become a symbol of ' shrinkflation ' in the UK, where products increase in price while subtly decreasing in size, particularly affecting chocolate due to rising cocoa costs. Relaunched in the UK in the 1990s at 10p, its price rose to 15p by 2005 and has recently been seen selling for up to 1, despite inflation calculations suggesting it should only cost around 24.8p in 2025. Mondelez International, owners of Cadbury, stated that increased manufacturing and supply chain costs have made Freddo more expensive to produce, leading to price adjustments.
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15 hours ago
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‘Dad invented Freddo. He'd roll over in his grave if he knew what it costs'
The daughter of the inventor of the Freddo chocolate bar said she is 'disgusted' at how much it now costs. Leonie Wadin, 74, claimed that since the death of her father, Harry Melbourne, she had not bought one of the frog-shaped confectionaries. She told Sky News: 'Dad was disgusted with how small it is now and how much they charge for it. 'He'd roll over in his grave if he could see it now. It was a penny chocolate.' In recent years, the Freddo has become a common yardstick by which the British public track inflation. It was first sold in the UK in 1973, before being taken off the shelves the following year. In 1994, when the chocolate bar went back on sale, it cost 10p. Cost of living crisis The Freddo remained at that price until 2005, when it began increasing by about 2p every year. Today, the confectionery is sold for 30p or 35p, but has been advertised for as much as £1. Last year, a Labour MP launched a petition calling for the price of the chocolate bar to be brought down after speaking to students at a local school in his constituency. Writing on X, Patrick Hurley said: 'Twenty pence for a Freddo is too much, especially in a cost of living crisis.' If the price of a Freddo had increased in line with inflation, it would now sell for about 21p. Ms Wadin's British father invented the Freddo in 1930 while working for an Australian company while just 14. She said: 'He said children are scared of mice, so why not a frog? Because kids go down to the lake and catch tadpoles.' Almost 100 years later, her family still takes pride in their connection to the Freddo bar. Ms Wadin added: 'They're very proud of their great-grandad, they still buy them, they love them. Carry on through every heritage, that's what I want. Never going to die 'The Freddo has to be passed on, Freddo is never going to die. It will always be there… I just want it all passed down, so that the frog is always in our lives.' Mondelez International, which owns Cadbury, told Sky News that Freddo had endured popularity across generations since launching in Britain in 1973. They said: 'Whilst it's important to stress that as a manufacturer we do not set the retail prices for products sold in shops, our manufacturing and supply chain costs have increased significantly over the past 50 years, and Freddo has become more expensive to make. 'We have absorbed these increased costs wherever possible. However, on occasion we have made changes to our list prices or multipack sizes to ensure that we can continue to provide consumers with the Freddo that they love, without compromising on the great taste and quality they expect.' Earlier this month, the Bank of England warned that rising food prices could push inflation to 4 per cent. The Monetary Policy Committee said that poor global coffee and cocoa harvests were partly to blame. The price of food, clothing, air and rail fares all contributed to the rate of inflation reaching 3.6 percent last month – the highest rate since January 2024.
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