especially when there were so many really interesting and tasty sweets to choose from in the rest of the shop.
The jars of sweets continued round to the wall behind the sweetshop keepers counter – a myriad of sweets of different colours and sizes – from the large Gobstoppers and Couch Candy twists, through the ‘normal sized’ favourites – rhubarb & custards and strawberries & cream, the mini sweets such as the pips in a wide variety of flavours and hues (sherbet pips, apple pips, spearmint tips) and down to the powders in the form of sherbets, crystals and kali.
But, for me, it was the sweets on top of and under the glass counter that were most attractive. They were always so close and yet so far away… a sheet of glass separating me from my sweet heaven. These were the colourful, novelty sweets… the strawberry bootlaces, the golf ball bubblegum (always a particular weakness of mine), the gobstoppers and the wham bars. And they were joined, as the years passed, by Space Dust (the stuff that exploded in your mouth and got you into trouble when you tried to sneak some into your mouth in the back of class) and Gold Nuggets (the bubblegum that looked like little pieces of gold and which came in a little cloth sack.
Thinking about them all again sets the memories flooding back and my mouth watering.
No wonder it used to take me so long to decide what I would spend my pocket money on. The choice seemed almost endless and there was the constant weighing up of whether it was better to buy a couple of big sweets or lots of little ones. It was a true education of the merits of quality verses quantity.
Now that I have children of my own, I miss the trips to the exciting world of the local sweetshop today. Sweetshops seem to have been replaced, almost without exception, by little supermarkets. The shelves that used to be crammed with sweets are now filled, by and large, by cat food, toilet rolls, jars of coffee and miserable looking sandwiches and pasties. The few sweets that remain have been squeezed into a tiny section and, as a result, have invariably been reduced to the safe, uninspiring, dull, guaranteed sellers such as Mars bars, Cadburys Dairy Milk etc.
But the magic of the local sweetshop has gone.
It is easy to remember with great fondness particular parts of childhood, a simple example is a trip to the local sweet shop.
There was always a ‘Mrs Allan’s sweetshop’ or a ‘Mr Thomas’ sweetshop’ as we called them, nearby. Perhaps little ‘sweet’ Mrs Allan or Mr Thomas were the last in generations and generations of sweet-makers and paper packaging specialists, resulting in the fond childhood memories that seemed to show us a glimmer of what heaven could be.
As someone who sells or works with candy this allows you to pass the savings on to others. Even a mother or teacher thinking ahead can use this method. When designing cookies, you can select according to color or size for perfect cookie-person buttons.
Their choices include the typical boiled sweets plus some that are softer. Chocolate is often added to the category, but is not as robust. It is more prone to melt and will not last in good shape for as long. Still, one might be attracted to them when buying mints and caramels.
Writing| about a Firm that supplies over 5000 different sweets.