IT'S been a favourite of generations of children, but now Nestl Rowntree's famous Smarties tube is being scrapped.

The company says the round tube is being replaced this summer with a six-sided Hexatube to achieve a "contemporary new look."

Also disappearing is the traditional letter on the lid, which will be replaced by constantly updated, quirky messages, stickers or images inside each tube and a resealable flip-top lid - ending decades of children popping the lid as far as they can.

The move comes only months after the traditional KitKat slogan was changed from Have A Break - Have A KitKat To Make The Most of Your Break.

Nestl says the "fresh and funky" approach to the redesign is the first ever change to the traditional Smarties tube since the product hit the shops 67 years ago.

"The classic round Smarties tube is an icon in packaging design and has had an array of fun uses for generations," said a spokesman.

"Along with washing up bottles, baking foil and egg cartons, the Smarties tube has always been an essential part of every kid's DIY modeling kit, used to create all manner of things from space rockets to castles - a true Blue Peter essential.

"Now, with the development of the unique Hexatube, a new chapter is beginning for Smarties and along with it a whole new range of possibilities for the tube."

Nestle's director of marketing, Neil Ducray, said the redesign was part of a continuing programme of product innovation, and the result of in-depth research carried out with consumers.

About 570,000 tubes of Smarties are made at Nestl Rowntree in York every day and many are exported to the Middle East, the Far East and South America.

It is estimated that nearly 16,000 Smarties are eaten every minute in the UK.

If all the Smarties eaten in one year were put in tubes and these put end to end it would equal almost 29,000 km, that's nearly three times the distance from London to Sydney.

Updated: 10:35 Friday, February 18, 2005