Humans have loved eating sweet things since sugarcane was first used in 8,000BC. We were eating honey even before then. In 2000BC, the Egyptians began mixing fruit and nuts with honey. These were probably the very first sweets.
Thousands of years later in the early 19th century, factories began to produce sweets in large quantities. They were able to do this because sugar had become less expensive. Machines were invented to help with the production. Sweets no longer had to be made by hand.
In 1827, a sweet shop opened in a small town called Pateley Bridge in the north of England. It was called The Oldest Sweet Shop in England. It’s still there today! In 2013, Guinness World Records confirmed it as being the longest running sweet shop in the world. What’s more, it continues to sell many kinds of sweets that our parents, grandparents and even our great-grandparents enjoyed when they were small.
Some of the sweets are still made within the shop and boiled in 100-year-old pans made from copper. The shop also looks as if it has come directly from an old story book. Large jars filled with all kinds of different flavoured sweets sit on shelves waiting to be opened and weighed on old-fashioned scales. When it’s time to pay, a cash till looking as if it is as old as the shop is still used.
The shop is owned by Keith and Gloria Tordoff, who bought it in 1993. Keith says he has always had a sweet tooth and likes to try all the sweets. He tells everyone that he does this to check the quality. Perhaps he just has the best job in the world? Keith says, “To me, sweets are all about memories. You remember sweets from your childhood, just like you remember a song. You remember the sweets your grandparents gave you, or giving a packet of Love Hearts to a girl you liked.”
Love Hearts have their own story. They were first made in 1933, and are a hard sweet shaped like a tablet from the doctor. They come in different colours and fruit flavours. On each sweet is a short message like, ‘Hold Me,’ ‘My Angel,’ and ‘Lucky Day.’
Many of the older sweets on sale today were once found in chemist shops and designed to help make you feel better. Others are full of sweet sugary flavour. What do you think Lemon Fizzballs taste like, or Pear Drops or a Barley Twist? With over 200 different varieties of sweet on sale, there must be something there for everyone to enjoy? Or perhaps you are like Keith and want to sample them all?
Learn more at www.oldestsweetshop.co.uk
And taker a deeper dive into the oldest sweet shop in the world just here:
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