York St John University students and the city’s residents have been given a chocolate-themed lecture given by David Rennie, managing director of Nestlé UK.

The talk marked the start of the university’s Town And Gown public lecture series and told the story of how KitKat became a global brand.

Mr Rennie gave the audience a peek inside the York factories, and the equipment necessary to make three million of the chocolate bars a day.

He also spoke of the changes in the KitKat brand over the past 75 years, including the impossibility of using milk chocolate during the Second World War.

A York St John University spokesman said: “The lecture is another example of the links that have been built between the university and Nestlé over the past year.

“There have been a number of successful placements by students from York St John University Business School at Nestlé. The university health and fitness department, YSJActive, has also delivered exercise programmes to Nestlé staff on their site as part of the ‘healthy workforce’ agenda.”

The next lecture in the Town And Gown lecture series will be given by Baroness Professor Haleh Afshar on Tuesday, October 19, at 6.30pm.

For tickets, visit yorksj.ac.uk/events or phone 01904 876990.