A North East sweet shop which offers customers the chance to step back in time with hundreds of retro treats to choose from is celebrating 10 years in business.
Sweet Reminisce, tucked away in The Sidings at Tynemouth Metro station, is run by Lynn Taylor with her daughters Tina and Sharon.
The family has made sure to give the shop a truly traditional feeling, with sweets on display in jars and vintage sweet posters decorating the walls.
Lynn, 62, and her daughters are armed with knowledge about the vintage sweets, from their traditional names to when and where some of them were founded.
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“I love it,” Lynn says of working in the shop, which she likens to a museum. “I can talk about different things from the past - because I’m old,” she jokes. “And it’s just fantastic. I love the customers, the customers - I hope! - love me.”
There’s plenty for small sweet-tooths to spend their pocket money on, from 10p sweets to £1 goody bags - but children aren't who the shop is aimed at.
“90% of our customers are actually older,” Lynn explains, saying that adults regularly come in searching for the sweets they enjoyed as kids.
One of Lynn’s favourite parts of the job is hearing people reminisce about their favourite sweet shops when they were little. “Everybody remembers them, when we were kids - even I remember the little shop at the top of the street. They used to be on every corner,” Lynn recalls.
The shop has reached far beyond its local appeal - Lynn says that customers regularly come in to buy sweets to send over to friends and family across the country, and even the world.
As the shop turns 10 years old, one of its suppliers, Kingsway, is also celebrating a birthday at the same time, marking 60 years this year of making popular sweets like fizzy cherries, strawberry twist kisses and tongue painters.
Sweet Reminisce is launching a two-week programme of special offers on their best-loved sweets for the joint celebration:
Wednesday March 2 : Sugar Free Day - Two sugar-free mini grab bags for £5
Thursday March 3: Tubs Day - 3-for-2 on sherbet, Choc Lick and Millions tubs
Friday March 4: Bonbons Day - Two bonbon mini grab bags for £5
Saturday March 5: Mega Lollies Day - Any four Mega Lollies for £1
Sunday March 6: Grab Bags Day - Any grab bag for £10
Wednesday March 9: Liquorice Day - 10% off all liquorice
Thursday March 10: Yellow Dot Day - 3-for-2 on all sweets with a yellow dot sticker
Friday March 11: Choc Nibbles Day - Two Choc Nibbles mini grab bags for £5
Saturday March 12: Nougat Day - Any nougat, coconut ice or peanut brittle for £1.10
Sunday March 13: Vegan Day - Any two vegan mini grab bags for £5
Customers should also look out for purple dot stickers on sweets - any sweet bag with a sticker can be bought for just £1, and more dots will be added each day throughout the 10-year celebrations.
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