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The owner of the world’s oldest sweet shop says classic sweets from the 1820s are still their best sellers after 199 years in business – including pear drops, bonbons, and humbugs.
The Oldest Sweet Shop was founded in Pateley Bridge, North Yorkshire, in 1827 and has since survived two world wars and a global pandemic.
And the time-warping store’s current owner, young entrepreneur Ben Howie, 29, says his best sellers prove Britain’s sweet tooth hasn’t changed too much over almost two centuries.
Hard-boiled treats such as pear drops, humbugs, as well as midget gems, cola cubs, and rhubarb and custards, are still proving as popular as they did in the 1800s and 1900s.
But Ben, from Knaresborough, North Yorks., who took over the historic store in 2021, admits modern-day sweets like Haribo gummy bears fly off the shelves too.
He said: “We sell all types of treats, but the traditional hard-boiled sweets are by far our best sellers.
“We have all different types from across different centuries, but it’s the old ones people want, I guess you can’t escape the classics, they are still the favorites for a reason.
“So it seems the country’s sweet tooth hasn’t changed too much.”
In 2014, the nostalgic store was named the oldest sweet shop in the world by the Guinness Book of Records.
It is located in a 400-year-old building, which only fits about 30 people in at any one time – customers have been known to travel from as far as Sydney and China for a glimpse.
Around 20,000 visitors call into the shop every year, which Ben says is the size of an average living room, which sits nestled at the top of the high street.
It has remained virtually unchanged, with large glass jars on dark wooden shelves and the original till, which was rescued by the shop’s previous owner, Keith Tordof, after he recognised it in an antique shop.
The business is family-run, with Ben’s brother James, 21, also helping out behind the counter and with online sales.
James said the shop is popular, as for many older customers it is like a “blast from the past.”
He said: “There are sweet shops everywhere, but you never find one like ours with old-fashioned jars, and the antique till.
“There is a lot of nostalgia in here.
“It isn’t uncommon for customers to come in and be ruing over which sweets they want, like Fruit Salads or wine gums.
“They can be inside making up their minds for 20 minutes, and even when they come to the till, they aren’t sure.”
The brothers are aware of the rising costs of running a business, with one of the things they were forced to update being iconic 1p sweets.
James said: “We had to change the price just after COVID up to 5p, which was a huge shame.
“It was a staple for a lot of people, but it just wasn’t sustainable to be able to pay for the cost of the product and bills.
“It would have been great to keep, but we couldn’t, unfortunately.”
But Ben and James have since built an online website where customers can place orders, which they say has really helped grow the business.
James said his favorite sweets are raspberry bonbons or Dolly Mix.
For Ben and James, keeping the “important bit of history” alive is their main goal.
Ben said: “Seeing the customers come in and be excited about the shop and the sweets is great, it really excites me.
“Hopefully, we can keep going for another 200 years.”
