Old fashioned sweets: the A to Z

Here is the old fashioned British sweet shop in alphabetical order. Each entry has a line about the sweet and a link to its full story, with dates and sources.

A to C

• Acid drops. Sharp boiled sweets made with citric or tartaric acid: acid drops.
• Aniseed balls. Hard, reddish brown aniseed sweets built up in layers around a single seed: aniseed balls.
• Aztec. Cadbury's nougat and caramel bar, 1967 to 1978: the Aztec bar.
• Barley sugar. Golden boiled sugar, traditionally twisted into sticks: barley sugar.
• Bazooka Joe. Bubble gum from 1947, with a comic strip in every wrapper from 1953: Bazooka Joe.
• Berwick cockles. White mints with red stripes, made since 1801: Berwick cockles.
• Black Jacks. Black, aniseed flavoured chews from the 1920s: Black Jacks.
• Blackpool rock. Thick seaside rock with the town's name all the way through: Blackpool rock.
• Brighton rock. The seaside rock that named a Graham Greene novel: Brighton rock.
• Bullseyes. Striped peppermint boiled sweets, also called black bullets: bullseyes.
• Butterscotch. Doncaster's buttery boiled sweet, presented to Queen Victoria in 1851: butterscotch.
• Caramac. The caramel bar from 1959, withdrawn in 2023 and briefly back in 2024: Caramac.
• Chocolate coins. Foil wrapped chocolate money for the Christmas tree: chocolate coins.
• Coconut ice. Pink and white coconut squares, traditionally made at home: coconut ice.
• Coltsfoot rock. Brittle rock flavoured with coltsfoot, made by Stockley's in Lancashire: Coltsfoot rock.

D to H

• Dip Dabs. Barratt's sherbet with a strawberry lolly, since 1935: Dip Dabs.
• Dolly mixtures. Tiny fondant shapes and jellies for small children: dolly mixtures.
• Drumsticks. Swizzels' chewy milk and raspberry lolly, since 1957: Drumstick lollies.
• Edinburgh rock. Soft, crumbly Scottish sticks, nothing like seaside rock: Edinburgh rock.
• Everton Mints and Everton toffee. The sweets behind Everton FC's nickname, the Toffees: Everton Mints and Everton toffee.
• Fisherman's Friend. Lozenges made in Fleetwood since 1865: Fisherman's Friend.
• Flying saucers. Wafer discs full of sherbet: flying saucers.
• Fox's Glacier Mints. Clear mints with Peppy the polar bear, since 1918: Fox's Glacier Mints.
• Fry's Chocolate Cream. The oldest chocolate bar brand still sold, from 1866: Fry's Chocolate Cream.
• Fruit Salad. Raspberry and pineapple chews from Barratt: Fruit Salad chews.
• Fudge. Sugar, butter and milk, with a Cornish clotted cream tradition: fudge.
• Gobstoppers. Layered boiled sweets that last for ages: gobstoppers.
• Harrogate toffee. Made to hide the taste of the spa water, since 1840: Harrogate toffee.
• Hawick Balls. Minty, buttery Borders sweets loved by Bill McLaren: Hawick Balls.
• Highland toffee. McCowan's chewy bar from Stenhousemuir: Highland toffee.
• Honeycomb or cinder toffee. Toffee full of bubbles: honeycomb toffee.
• Humbugs. Striped peppermint boiled sweets: humbugs.

J to P

• Jelly Tots. Rowntree's sugar coated fruit jellies, since 1965: Jelly Tots.
• Kendal Mint Cake. The peppermint sugar bar that went up Everest: Kendal Mint Cake.
• Kola kubes. Sugar dusted cola cubes: kola kubes.
• Lemon drops. Sugar coated lemon boiled sweets: lemon drops.
• Liquorice Allsorts. Bassett's mixture from 1899: Liquorice Allsorts.
• Liquorice Catherine wheels. Coiled liquorice around a jelly button: liquorice wheels.
• Love Hearts. Swizzels' message sweets, since 1954: Love Hearts.
• Midget Gems. Firm fruit gums, renamed Mini Gems by some sellers in 2022: Midget Gems.
• Mint imperials. White mints with a hard shell, pan drops to Scots: mint imperials.
• Moffat toffee. A boiled sweet with a tangy centre, from Dumfriesshire: Moffat toffee.
• Opal Fruits. Renamed Starburst in 1998: Opal Fruits.
• Pacers. Mars' striped mint chews, until 1985: Pacers.
• Parma Violets. Violet flavoured tablets from Swizzels, since 1946: Parma Violets.
• Pear drops. Pink and yellow boiled sweets: pear drops.
• Pineapple chunks. Golden, sugared pineapple sweets: pineapple chunks.
• Polo. The mint with the hole, from York in 1948: Polo mints.
• Pontefract cakes. Black liquorice discs stamped with a castle: Pontefract cakes.

R to Y

• Rainbow Drops. Sugar coated puffed maize and rice, from the 1930s: Rainbow Drops.
• Refreshers. Fizzy tablets or chewy sherbet sweets, depending on the maker: Refreshers.
• Rhubarb and custard. Two tone boiled sweets named after a British pudding pairing: rhubarb and custard sweets.
• Riley's Toffee Rolls. Halifax toffee revived from a family cookery book: Riley's Toffee Rolls.
• Scottish tablet. Firm and grainy, recorded since the early 1700s: Scottish tablet.
• Sherbet Fountains and sherbet lemons. Sherbet with a liquorice stick, and lemon sweets with a fizzy centre: Sherbet Fountains and sherbet lemons.
• Soor plooms. Sharp green sweets from Galashiels: soor plooms.
• Space Dust. Popping candy from the makers of Pop Rocks: Space Dust.
• Spangles. Square boiled sweets, 1950 to 1984: Spangles.
• Sugar mice. Fondant mice with string tails: sugar mice.
• Sweet cigarettes. Now sold as candy sticks: sweet cigarettes.
• Texan. The cowboy bar withdrawn in 1984: the Texan bar.
• Toffee apples and treacle toffee. Bonfire Night sweets: toffee apples and treacle toffee.
• Uncle Joe's Mint Balls. Made in Wigan since 1898: Uncle Joe's Mint Balls.
• Victory V. Lozenges first made in Lancashire in 1864: Victory V.
• Walker's Nonsuch. Toffee made in Longton, Stoke on Trent, since the 1890s: Walker's Nonsuch.
• Wham. Chewy bars with fizzy bits, from the early 1980s: Wham bars.
• Yellowman. Crunchy honeycomb toffee from the Ould Lammas Fair: yellowman.

For toffees in more detail, see old fashioned toffee, and for the ones that disappeared, see sweets you can no longer buy.

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