My Top 5 Retro Sweets - Listography

It was such a treat to be given a few pennies to spend in the sweet shop on the way to school when I was a kid. The sweet shop, quaintly named The Chocolate Box, has long gone and the kindly sweetshop owner who had so much patience for our lengthy deliberations would most definitely be weighing out quarters of bon bons in the great confectioners in the sky. Even so, if I close my eyes I can picture the layout of that little shop, still smell the slightly musty but tantalisingly sweet odour, hear the rustle of the paper bags and the clattering of sweets tumbling into the scales. As for the excitement of feasting your eyes on row after row of glass jars holding sweets of so many different colours, shapes and flavours... it can still make my heart race a little faster.

Despite the world of choice available, I was a creature of habit and only ever picked from a small selection of the sugary treats. I had my favourites and I stuck with them. I remember them all so well. There was always the playground trading that went on but I stayed loyal to my favourites:

1. Pear Drops.
A quarter of pear drops would last all day. The distinctive ketone smell of them, like nail varnish remover, was a big part of the appeal. The fact that the soft tissue on the roof of your mouth would be ripped to shreds after a day of sucking on them was never a deterrent.

2. Fruit salads.
You could buy eight of these for a penny and they would make your jaw ache. I bought myself a pink and orange summer top a couple of years ago. As soon as I saw it I knew I had to have it because of how much it reminded me of fruit salads.

3. Spangles. 
Square, fruity boiled sweets in a tube. Not the most exciting but delicious to suck and handy for popping in your pocket.

4. Candy Cigarettes.
In a more innocent world when cigarette smoking was considered sophisticated and harmless,  I loved to 'smoke' candy cigarettes with the authentic red lit tip.

5. Lemonade Sparkle Ice Lolly
Not strictly a sweet I know but still a Sweet Shop favourite on a hot day. Sparkle ice lollies came in orangeade flavour too but Lemonade was my favourite. Refreshing, sticky... lovely.

Thanks to Kate Takes 5 for sending me on a mouthwatering trip into my childhood memories.