Bertie Bassett is reeling from the double blow of declining sales and the war on sugar.
Sales of liquorice allsorts of all brands have gone down by nearly 10 per cent in the past year.
It’s the only type of confectionery to see a downturn in demand.
And new rules that sweets contain less than 50 per cent sugar could spell the end for the old favourite.
In August, the Institute for Economic Affairs think tank warned that some treats would be impossible to produce under a UK government recommendation that they have no more than 48.4 per cent sugar by 2020.
Industry publication The Grocer revealed: “That’s bad news for liquorice allsorts, which are made almost entirely of sugar.”
Liquorice allsort sales have declined since 2016 and are down 11 per cent overall to £23.5million, according to retail analyst Kantar.
The firms’s Jackson Woods said older people were contiuing to eat the treats, adding: “Those who grew up on aniseed continue to enjoy the sweets, with over-65s accounting for more than half of sales.”
Demand for other sweets – from fruit pastilles to mint and toffee – rose 2.7 per cent to £898million.
Bassett’s Liquorice Allsorts, now part of Cadbury -owned Mondelez, were created by accident in 1899, when an accident-prone salesman tripped up, mixing up the different liquorice sweets he was carrying.
