Sweet shops have come and gone, but the oldest sweet shop in Pateley Bridge never went away.
Established in 1827, the shop has been continuously selling traditional sweets and chocolates to its many visitors. What’s more, the shop was certified in 2014 by the Guinness World Records as the oldest continuously trading sweet shop. With over two centuries of experience in making sweets, consumers are continuously fascinated by the taste, to the point that many of them return for more!
Here you’ll find all sorts of sweets. From cola bottles to jelly babies and kola cubes to barley sugar sweets, the shop is filled with a variety of hard-boiled and soft sweets to satisfy that sweet tooth! The best part is that the sweets that you see today are still made by traditional makers who follow traditional recipes.
Historically, copper pans were used in boiling the sweets which were then shaped for packaging using sweet moulds. It was then placed into the traditional glass jars ready to sell. Much of this practice remains the same today and visitors will be taken on a journey into the past once they lay their eyes on the many sweet jars.
“It’s great that we can keep so many of the sweets alive, many of which you can’t get commercially elsewhere,” says Ben Howie who is the owner of the shop.
Ben tells us that the oldest sweet that the shop stocks is the Barley Sugar. Dating back to the Ancient Egyptians, the sweet has extracts of barley which can help in reducing the risk of diabetes. We asked Ben about the subject of sweets being unhealthy to which he replied, “So obviously, sweets contain sugar, but we think that sugar is a necessity. It’s a natural preservative. And of course, everything has to be consumed in moderation.”
“So the sweets that our elderly customers buy are the most traditional sweets that we have here. And those sweets are welcomed amongst those elderly customers because they can’t get them in the supermarket or elsewhere. And also it’s the theatre of weighing out on the Avery scales that takes them back to when they were buying sweets when this kind of thing was the norm,” says Ben.
But it’s not just the elder generation that visits the shop. Many will be seen bringing in the younger generation, who whilst might not be fond of the hard-boiled sweets, still have the variety of the softer and chewy sweets.
Ben loves his job and he tells us that the sweets serve more of a function than just something you consume. He believes it’s a little something to brighten up someone’s day!
To find out more about the Oldest Sweet Shop In The World, visit their site below:
Information on Halal Sweets:
Be sure to enquire before purchasing any sweets. Simply ask if the sweets are suitable for vegetarians or vegans. Alternatively, you can ask for sweets without beef or pork gelatine as well as any alcohol.
The adventurous spirit behind the pages of British Muslim magazine. As the Editor-in-Chief, Natasha leads with a passion for exploration and a pen dipped in wanderlust. With a keen eye for halal travel experiences and an insatiable curiosity for new experiences, she brings readers along on captivating journeys to far-flung destinations. Through her vibrant storytelling, Natasha invites readers on enriching adventures, where every experience is a window into the muslim world.
