Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past Wirral History Favorite Sweet Shops/Sweets

Bang on with that gum name

Such a machine, on a stand, was outside a sweet shop, towards the top of Exmouth Street I recall, maybe near where the Fire Station was built. Anyway, the machine at that time had gum , but also badges of such great popsters as the Beatles, Herman's Hermits, Dave Clark Five etc. I remember there was occasional shaking of said machine to influence the outcome

the pink round bubblegum was anglo bubbly

Mr Felix's on Arglye St South on the corner of Helena St.
Penny sweets such as Mojo's, Fruit Salad, Black Jacks, Arrow Bars. A thin strip of Cadbury's chocolate wrapped in purple foil for 1/2d, sherbet dabs, sweet cigarettes, gob stoppers, sour grape chewys, toffee strips, cinder toffee, flying saucers, nougat bars that needed jaws like King Kong to chew.........Happy days...Most of them contained so many additives and E numbers that if you tried selling them today you'd go straight to jail

think it was arrowmint.

also further down there was passeys and later Harry took it over it stayed open later than Felix.

me mum always went on about frys coffee creme

Expensive tastes Was yummy indeed!

Flashback....arrow bars :)))

Ma Gorringe's in Price Street, she only had one eye and the other had a plaster over her glasses to shield it. Remember lemon sherberts when they first came out, fantastic. In those days though they actually had some sherbert in them not the things you get now with rock all in 'em. Sherbert dabs were another thing that came out once rationing finished. Liquorice sticks were actual bits of wood which we chewed on and they made your gob go black. Locust was another sweet substitute, this was a kind of dried bean pod and I think it was also used to make "Camp" coffee which was a coffee substitute because you couldn't get the real thing. Condensed milk was another sweet source. Toffee apples when you could get the sugar to make them. I think some people had a black market source of sugar because they would make toffee apples and flog them There was a crisp factory in Price Street as well and you could get a packet for a penny. All kinds of other stuff running through my bonce at the moment e.g. Wagon Wheels coming out and they were huge compared to the ones you get now.

the sweet shop by the magazine pub and before in Beach Grove was called Mrs Woods it must have had an extension to the front because the building now is slightly back from the kerb

pembertons shop oxton rd
Parma violets,
Spanish gold,
liquorice imps /imperial imps,(in little tins)
frizzells,
rainbow drops,
bazooka Joe's
fruit salads,
bulls eyes,
cough candy twists,
cough cops
Cherry lips

Remember too that sweets were priced for 2oz or quarters, all served from a big jar. No E numbers then either, just honest to goodness white death. When the rationing was lifted we didn't have much dosh to buy sweets anyway but made money by taking jam jars, pop bottles, beer bottles etc back for the deposit money, nice little earner.

We used to go to Lucy's, Wallasey Village at the bottom of Perrin Rd. (about where the Drs is now). Remember all those old sweets, Penny Arrow bars (loved those!) various 'Chews' (were they 4 for a penny?) - I seem to remember a milk-flavoured one?! And of course all the sweets in jars in rows on the shelves - sold loose, by the quarter (shopkeeper used to twirl the bag by its corners to close it!) or smaller amounts (2oz?) in little triangular shaped paper bags? And "Trebor" sweets - which we thought must be "Robert" spelled backwards!

One of the founders of Trebor was Robert Robertson, so yes, probably.