Yes, I was a greedy, sweet-toothed little girl!
This wonderful shop in Louth would have fitted the bill perfectly!
A lovely little gem of a shop which sells sweeties by weight, wrapped in lovely paper bags. The man who runs the shop must get so tired of people reminiscing about their childhood favourites - but he never, ever shows it!
To be perfectly truthful, it wasn't only the sweeties which I wanted. It was the lovely little shop scales.
I wanted to open a jar and carefully measure out the sweets, lift the shiny pan and tip the sweets gently into a small paper bag which I would then expertly twist round so that it would end up with a tiny 'ear' at each corner to keep the bag from opening. I was sure that it would be the best fun in the world!
I wanted to be able to count out black jacks, fruit salads and flying saucers, licorice sticks and gobstoppers! I wanted to take the money and ring it into the old fashioned cash till with the big drawer which would ping out to admit the money.
Although undoubtedly bad for the waistline, and your teeth, it is a wonderful place to have a trip down memory lane!
Gobstoppers is located in a lovely little lane, with lots of lovely independent shops around.
There are a few versions of this story, but the gist of it is that the sign had to be either repaired or replaced but when the carpenter had finished and the shopkeeper came out to have a look, it was found to have been put on upside down. The shopkeeper decided that he like it that way and it has been a talking point for the many years since then.
This was originally a chapel which was converted to a cinema in the 1920's. In 1935 a new frontage in the 'moderne' style was added.
Just peeping over the top is the roof of the original chapel.
It is now a three screen cinema - pretty good for a little market town like Louth! It is also home to the Louth Film Club.
So, there you have another little slice of the treasures of Louth.
Oh my goodness, that sweet shop! It looks absolutely fantastic. I have a real sweet tooth so I think a place like that would be soooo tempting!
ReplyDeleteThat sweet shop is wonderful!!! ENgland has so many beautiful little shops. Canada's shops can't hold a candle to yours.
ReplyDeleteRemember the days of getting into Stornoway, once a week, Saturdays only? Nick'n'Mix at Woolworths...
ReplyDeleteWhat were those round chocolate sweets called with hundreds and thousands on top?
ReplyDeleteI'll have a quarter of those please...
I do indeed remember Stornoway on a Saturday morning; fish and chips for lunch, sitting in the car park and watching the harbour!
ReplyDeleteHi Chris, I've racked my brains for the name of those sweets - without success. Those little sprinkles transformed the chocolate drops into something magical. Once I remember the name you shall have your quarter pound.
ReplyDeleteIt is a lovely little shop - fortunately it is tucked down an alley way that I don't use very often - otherwise I would soon be the size of a house!
ReplyDeleteHi Nilhuanwen, It is a wonderful place of temptation! I think that quite a few people will be finding that they have a quarter pound bag of old fashioned sweeties tucked into their Christmas stocking this year.
ReplyDeleteElaine, the first time I see so much sweets like those in your photos was when we were in San Jose, US the last trip we went back to US for a family renunion. I am not a sweet tooth but in a sweet shop like those, one just cannot resist but wanting to buy each an every kind of sweets in there, I ended up with 2 big packets of various kinds of sweets.. hehe.
ReplyDeleteHello Quay Po,
ReplyDeleteThese shops are set out so beautifully that I can fully understand how you ended up 2 big packets of assorted sweets in San Jose!
I have learnt how to resist the call of sweets (usually) but I do indulge occasionally. Funnily enough, it is my husband who has the real sweet tooth these days - well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!