Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Sweet Tooth

With Easter approaching I'm in a let's go choco' mood - so it seems appropriate to post a list of 'Sweets I Miss' and 'Sweets I Can't Believe Are Still Going'.

Sugar Sugar - Sweets I genuinely miss

Midnight Mint
Why hasn't this tasty treat been revived yet? Dark chocolate and melty minty ice cream. Gorgeous. (See also - Lord Toffinghams Lolly and that fist sized dark chocolate heart on stick thing)

Maynards Milk Gums
Not the loose milk bottle shaped ones weighed out from a jar , but the crinkle wrapped pocket size packet - even the little speckles and dimples were tasty .

Buttersnap
Yes there's 'Dime', 'Daim' or whatever it is, but it's not as creamy crunchy as the ''snap'.

Glees
'Skittles' - are nearly there but, to quote Roy Walker 'it's good but it's not right'.

Toffee and Mallow eggs
Just so scrummy.

Bar Six
An obscure classic, similar to Terry's 'Waifa'.

Fry's Five Centre advert



Alan Hawkshaw - The Night Rider (better known as the "all because the lady loves" Milk Tray music)


Shout About Pepsi - Denny Wright and The Hustlers




What Are You Still Doing Here? - Sweets Still Hanging On In There

Tunnocks (any variation)
Unchanged and unstoppable. Like the sort of thing Private Pike would have had in his lunch box .( Fancy a Virtual Tour of Tunnocks Towers? Then just click here)


Anglo Bubbly
And 25 for just one earth pound - amazing.

Parma Violets
Not only are they still going, but they've even gone all outsize too.

Lovehearts
They've updated them you know, with things like 'Fax Me' and 'Email Me', but hadn't got up to speed with Facebook or Text speak last time I had a pack.

Have a peep here and here for more tuck shop treats.

Scans taken from Robert Opie' 1970s Srapbook a great book, but the tacky clipart cover ( which none of his other 'scrapbooks'have ) does it a huge disservice

16 comments:

Cocktails said...

Being too foreign and too young (I'd like to think) I haven't heard of any of these long lost sweets. However, I am taken by the idea of toffee and mallow eggs - they do sound rather good.

Did you have 'fags' over here, all the fun of smoking but in a sweety treat? I still can't quite believe that they existed...

Mondo said...

We had several variations on the theme of 'cigs for kids'.

Sweet Cigarettes - known Candy Sticks now - the Barrets Orange tipped ones were standard issue, but the real treats were the anonymous pink tipped ones, so sweet and tasty.

Liquorice pipes - which came with little sugary embers on top of the bowl.

Spanish Gold - coconut dressed in some sort of brown sugar confection, sold as pretend rolling tobacco for pre-teens - what madness is that?

iLL Man said...

Ok, let me see.........

Wham Bars - Destroyer of teeth. Chewy pink 'stuff' with fizzy bits in it.

Cola Bottles - Came in three varieties. The traditional rubbery ones that lasted ages, the smaller and less tasty ones, then the sour ones which I loved.

Sherbet Saucers - Really crap. Made all foamy stuff come out yr nose if you ate one whole.

Sherbet Dabs - A bit of a treat this one. As the name suggests, a lolly to be sucked, then dipped in the sherbet.

half pence gummy bears - Showing my age here. A great way to stretch the 20p pocket money I got when I was about six.

Matthew Rudd said...

I loved Relays - the hardest kind of toffee in an encased circle of milk chocolate.

The Peppermint Pattie was lovely - white Fry's-esque mint in a plain chocolate circle. Silver paper too - very important.

Mondo said...

Ill Man - with you on all those and chocolate tools were always a 'mix up' treat - how about Swizzles Refresher that tongue frying companion piece to Sherbet Dabs

Matt - I don't remember any of those. But, the names have made me wonder whatever happened to Vice Versas ?

Cocktails said...

Spanish Gold sounds superb. Our 'cigs for kids' didn't have such exotic names, they were actually called 'fags'! My how times have changed...

BLTP said...

What about those long boiled sweets with embossed writing on the top "murray liquid fruits?" they had this foul tasting goo in middle.
also have you noticed that modern cola bottles aren't as full as the ones in the olden days!
anything sourz makes my face turn inside out!

Mondo said...

BLTP - they sound similar to the fancy Fruit Pastilles that were individually wrapped and had 'Bon Bon' or something like that embossed on the top

How about Newbury Fruits for real Gloy style goo, and with you on the sour - I just don't get it.

Simon said...

Spacedust!!!!!!

Simon said...

I actually have an odd relationship with some of these sweets cos when I was a kid we didn't have much cash; so any money I had came with a decision: comics or sweets.

Having said that though, we had an old fashioned sweetshop near me which was open on a Sunday afternoon strangely, while absolutely everything else was shut. A quarter (of a pound) of cola cubes was my favourite!

Mondo said...

Simon - I've still got a Spacedust wrapper somewhere.

That's another thing I miss in the smaller shops, smelling that giddy mix of rolling/pipe tobacco and sweets

bleecher said...

Paper mars bar wrappers, with the letter of the alphabet in gold on the inside ... what the gadzooks was that all about???

spangles dissapearance was a sad sad day .... or did they just 'snicker' them when i was looking the other way???

my sweet treat was 10 1p golf ball bubblegums and a bottle of corona cherry aid (or cream soda....) yumm

Mondo said...

I had a real buzz for the those minty bubblegum golf balls about a year ago, at the same time I found what must've been the only shop in the UK still selling them (just on the A40 outside Oxford)

Mondo said...

I had a real buzz for the those minty bubblegum golf balls about a year ago, at the same time I found what must've been the only shop in the UK still selling them (just on the A40 outside Oxford)

Jon Peake said...

I can't believe I never commented on this thread!

Drew said...

Not too keen on Robert Opie - ever since a soap and a Just Juice carton - both from the 1980s - crept into two of his other "1970s" works! What an anorak I am!