| It was always my childhood dream...After all they | | | | with, of the top 5 sweets that no self-respecting |
| always talk about being as 'happy as a child in a | | | | old-fashioned sweetshop should be without (I've |
| sweetshop'. | | | | assumed that everyone would include classics like |
| I remember, with great fondness, stopping off at | | | | Flying Saucers, Sherbet Lemons, Aniseed Balls, |
| our local sweetshop on the way to school. I spent | | | | Shrimps and Blackjacks - these are some old |
| many a happy hour deciding which sweets would | | | | favourites that you might have forgotten): |
| find their way into my little white paper bag. The | | | | Space Dust Remember Space Dust? It was |
| choice seemed almost endless...From pear drops | | | | around initially in the late 1970s I think. It came in |
| to kali, sherbet lemons to strawberry bootlaces. | | | | a sachet and when you poured it onto your |
| And there can be no doubt that, in the same way | | | | tongue it started to fizz, pop and explode. And |
| that fashions from the 1970s and 1980s keep | | | | you spent the next few minutes with mouth |
| coming back, there is currently a resurgence in | | | | open so that everyone around could 'enjoy' the |
| the love of nostalgic sweets. | | | | crackling. Believe it or not, it is still being made and |
| People even ask me if the stock in my shop is | | | | is now very trendy, used by famous chefs, such |
| left over from these decades... and if so, can the | | | | as Heston Blumenthal, in their desserts. |
| sweets still be eaten! I give a wry smile. Although | | | | Gobstoppers They seemed huge and lasted for |
| the massive majority of sweets that we sell | | | | ages. I used to keep taking mine out of my |
| aren't generally available these days, the | | | | mouth so I could see what colour it had turned in |
| manufacturers still make many of the old | | | | to. It was always a great disappointment if had |
| favourites. Finding them though has been very | | | | gone white but I suppose there had to be the |
| difficult - that is until the advent of the Internet. | | | | boring while layer between the reds, yellows and, |
| I'm often asked, by people who are thinking of | | | | my personal favourite, the blues. And right in the |
| opening a quaint little village sweetshop or a stall | | | | very centre there was that little seed. If I wanted |
| on a market, which of the old classics they should | | | | a sweet to make my pocket money last as long |
| be stocking. So here is the list, I have come up | | | | as possible, I went for a gobstopper every time! |