Halls (cough drop)
Halls is a British brand of a popular mentholated cough drop. Halls cough drops (categorised as a cough suppressant/oral anaesthetic by the manufacturer) are sold by the Cadbury-Adams Division of Cadbury, now owned by Mondelēz International, and have long been advertised as featuring "vapour action".
![]() A pack of Extra Strong Halls | |
Owner | Mondelēz International |
---|---|
Country | England |
Introduced | 1930s |
Markets | Throat lozenges / Cough drops |
Previous owners | Halls Brothers (1930-1964) Warner–Lambert (1964-2000) Pfizer (2000-2002) Cadbury (2002-2010) Kraft (2010-2012) |
Website | gethalls |
Halls was first made in the 1930s in Stanley Road, Whitefield, Lancashire, United Kingdom by the Hall Brothers company which was founded in 1893 by Thomas Harold & Norman Smith Hall.[1] Hall Brothers was acquired by Warner-Lambert in 1964. Production in Whitefield ceased in the late 1980s. When Pfizer acquired Warner-Lambert in 2000, the Halls brand came with the entire Adams portfolio (which included Trident gum, Dentyne, Chiclets, and Freshen Up among others). Two years later Adams was bought out by Cadbury, which was purchased by Kraft foods and later restructured. It was renamed Mondelēz International – as of 2015 Mondelēz International owns the Halls brand worldwide.
Drug information
Halls contain menthol, which acts as local anaesthetic and "creates a cooling sensation".[2] It also acts as a cough suppressant.[3]

Additional information

In some parts of the world, including Brazil,[4] Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia,[5] the Philippines, and Pakistan, Halls is advertised as a mentholated hard candy and is not recognised as a medicine for coughs. In the UK, Halls Extra Strong has recently dropped all mention of an active ingredient (or of coughs) from the packaging, and now describes the contents as "Extra Strong Original flavour hard boiled sweets."
In 2016, Halls was one of the biggest selling branded over-the-counter medications sold in Great Britain, with sales of £32.5 million.[6]
References
- "HALLS OF FAME: THE WORLD'S LEADING SWEET". 13 September 2021.
- "Halls Cough Drops (Menthol)". Iodine, Medication information that really helps. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
- "HALLS MENTHO-LYPTUS (Pfizer Consumer Group)". Drugs.com. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
- "Halls advertised as candy in Brazil".
- "Halls Colombia ‹ Nacho Cabrera – Locutor Voice Talent". Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
- "A breakdown of the over-the-counter medicines market in Britain in 2016". Pharmaceutical Journal. 28 April 2017. Archived from the original on 8 September 2017. Retrieved 29 May 2017.