Lion's Sports Mixture

Well Summer is most definitely over, not that we had much sunshine that's for sure! This weekend sees the annual SHEEP FAIR here in Masham and this year it is the 30th Anniversary of this great weekend.

If you don't know Masham, we have one of the largest and finest market squares in England, and it was always famous for sheep sales. Historically up to 70,000 sheep were sold each year. Today, the annual Sheep Fair raises lots of money for local charities, and the weekend is full of fun activities - not all sheep related!!

Anyway, the Sheep Fair marks Autumn here in Masham, and i thought i'd take a moment to let you all know what the Top Ten Best Selling Sweets have been here in Bah Humbugs Sweet Shop over the Summer.

1. Pontefract Cakes - what needs to be said about these Best Selling Sweets? They're a chewy liquorice coin, synonymous with the town of Pontefract which has a history steeped in liquorice.

2. Lemon Sherbets - tangy, crunchy lemon sweets with a sour sherbet centre

3. 1950s Decade Sweet Bucket - 1950s Sweets crammed into one of our new Sweet Buckets, fabulous selection, great for sharing.

4. Lion's Sweet Hamper - A hamper full of the entire range of sweets made by Lion's including Midget Gems and Sports Mixtures.

5. Lion's Midget Gems - the absolute 'proper' ones - with black liquorice ones.We only sell the authentic Lion's Sweets, the hard, chewy, fruity gums, so you won't find any blackcurrant flavoured black sweets here!

6. Lion's Sports Mixtures - proper Sports Mixtures, with the black liquorice ones, just like the Midget Gems.

7. Haribo Giant Strawbs - the best selling Haribo Sweet, Strawberries, Chewy Strawberries or whatever you like to call them! they are a scrumptious strawberry flavoured chew!

8. Raspberry Blue Bon Bons - why are Raspberry flavoured

9. Liquorice Torpedoes - Crunchy hard shells with a lovely liquorice centre

10. Cherry Lips - love them or hate them, they're a floral, fragrant and hard chewy gum.

Are any of these sweets one of your favourites? What sweet IS your favourite?

Today in Bah Humbugs Sweet Shop we have had an order for a 1950s Sweet Hamper from a care home in the South of England. We are often contacted by people caring for the elderly to provide selections of sweets from a certain decade for use with their residents, or for people who are suffering from dementia.
Sweets evoke so many memories - everyone can remember their first favourite sweet, and I love being able to grab that jar off the shelf and find that particular sweet for my customers. We're told that the sweets such as aniseed balls, cough candy, Floral Gums etc have such distinctive flavours that they can help people with memory problems to go back in time as they trigger many happy memories. Much the same as music does.

Sugar is in the news a lot at the moment because of the adverse affects it has on the teeth of children who don't brush their teeth. It's absolutely right that sweets contain a lot of sugar and if sweets are eaten constantly without brushing your teeth that you're likely to get a large dental bill.

But our sweets aren't so bad, eaten in moderation they will take you on a happy trip down memory lane, back to your school days; they can help to cheer up the glummest of moods and they also serve to give you a big energy boost.

What i love best of all is to serve my elderly customers. I love to listen to all their stories of how they used to get their first sweets, what their favourites were, how much they cost, where they bought them from, what they tasted like - the amount of detail that they recall is quite phenominal, especially for those customers who are unfortunate enough to have dementia and memory problems.

If you would like a selection of sweets for someone born during a specific decade/era, do let us know and we will happily put together a selection of sweets for you. Whether you're looking for sweets from the 1940s, sweets from the 1950s or 1960s sweets, we have a fabulous selection and can definitely put together a scrumptious assortment for you.

So let's not be so quick to bin sugar, it does have its' uses!

We've had a busy Summer here in Bah Humbugs Sweet Shop with lots of visitors to Masham. The shop has had lots of new customers who haven't been before, as well as a lot of our regular customers.

The Summer is also a really busy time for us making and delivering Wedding Favours to lots of lovely venues across The Yorkshire Dales. This has been the first Summer we've had our Victorian Sweet Cart, but it has been out to lots of stunning locations such as Swinton Park, Allerton Castle and Ripley Castle.

If you're planning a wedding then please do give us a call or send us an email. Our sweets make wonderful inexpensive gifts to give to your guests to thank them for sharing your special day with you. From bags of Retro Sweets to boxes of chocolates, Jars of Sweets, bags of traditional boiled sweets and of course Childrens Party Bags - we can cater for them all! We also have lots of  And our Sweet Cart is a real show-stopper! Absolutely guaranteed to go down a storm with your guests (young AND old!). Here are some fabulous photos of the types of sweet favours we do, a long with some pictures of our fab sweet cart.

Today we received a wonderful email from some newlyweds who got married at Swinton Park near to Masham. We thought we'd share it with you as we're so delighted to receive it!:-

Dear Lucy, We just wanted to email you to express our gratitude for the fantastic work you did to make our wedding so memorable. the Sweet Cart was fantastic and was a great talking point. We could not have hoped for any better. As a supplier, you made our day. Your service was second to none and everyone commented on how amazing the sweet cart looked. You were brilliant from start to finish. We really can't praise you enough and will be eternally grateful to you, for helping to create a day we will treasure forever. Matthew & Victoria

If you'd like any information about any of our Wedding Favours, Retro Sweets or Sweet Cart, please do get in touch! We will give your wedding that extra wow - factor!!

Childrens Party Bags

We're delighted to have been chosen as a finalist in not one, but TWO categories in Forward Ladies Women in Business Awards 2015 for Yorkshire & The North East!

Lucy Scott Paul, owner of Bah Humbugs has been chosen as a finalist in the following two categories are Yorkshire Business Woman in Retail and Best Online Yorkshire Business.

We're especially pleased to have been short listed because the competition this year has been very tough as the Forward Ladies Managing Director, Griselda Tobogo commented:

“The calibre of entries has been increasing year on year, but this year we have a number of outstanding entries, which have attracted women from all ages, all professions and all walks of life.  We are also delighted to hosting regional heats in Newcastle, Manchester, London and Nottingham for the first time, which means we can showcase some of the best talent from across the whole of England.

“We also have categories to showcase the underrepresented women working in traditionally male dominated fields such as STEM, Digital and Online category, and have received some outstanding entries in this category.  The judges have seriously had their work cut out for them this year.”

We've got our fingers and toes crossed for the 29th of September when the regional winner will be announced at a glittering ceremony in Newcastle. All the winners will be put forward to the National Finals in November - so it's really exciting stuff!

Lucy Scott Paul, owner of Bah Humbugs won the Forward Ladies Business Woman in Retail Award for Yorkshire in 2012 - so to be shortlisted in the awards for a second time was a real surprise. "I'm delighted to have been shortlisted for Forward Ladies Women in Business Awards again, and to have been shortlisted in two categories is just amazing! Working in Retail can be tough, especially when the UK was suffering a recession. Running an online business can be challenging too so to be recognised in this way has been just marvellous!"

Bah Humbugs is an online sweet shop selling all the sweets from your childhood. Bah Humbugs also specialises in a wonderful selection of sweet gifts, including Retro Sweet Hampers, Eighties Sweet Hampers, Seventies Sweet Hampers, Giant Sweet Hampers and Sweet Party Bags.

Please do keep your fingers crossed for us & we'd like to wish all the other finalists GOOD LUCK!

 Here at Bah Humbugs Sweet Shop we're always thinking of new products to whet your appetite and this year is no different! Hot on the heels of our Sweet Buckets we're delighted to launch our brand new range of Sweet Buckets - The Decade Sweet Buckets!

Perfect for those milestone events such as birthdays, anniversaries or Christmas, these Sweet Buckets are a wonderful gift to transport the recipient on a lovely, nostalgic trip down memory lane. Each one in crammed full of 1500g of sweets from a specific decade.

There are four buckets in the range so far - 1950s sweets, 1960s sweets, 1970s sweets and 1980s sweets. Here is some information about each one & of course to take a look at the rest of our Sweet Gifts then don't forget to check out our website - www.bahhumbugs.com

So if you're looking for sweets for specific event and need sweets from a specific era, Fifties Sweets, Sixties Sweets, Eighties Sweets, or Seventies Sweets? We've done the research and each of these buckets is crammed full of all the sweets you'll remember from each of these decades so you won't be disappointed!

1950s Sweet Bucket - 1.5kg of sweets from the 1950s, including Aniseed Balls, Catherine Wheels, Liquorice Root, Toffees, Dolly Mixtures, Rhubarb & Custards, Pontefract Cakes, Pear Drops, Black Jacks, Fruit Salads, Drumsticks, Love Hearts, Parma Violets, Fizzers & lots more.

1960s Sweet Bucket - 1.5kg of sweets from the 1960s, including Jelly Babies, Liquorice Torpedoes Coconut Mushrooms, Rhubarb & Custards, Murray Mints, Cherry Lips, Sherbet Lemons, Sherbet Fountain, Sherbet Dip, Black Jacks, Fruit Salads, Love Hearts, Refreshers, Double Lollies, Refresher Chew & lots more.

Groovy Seventies Sweets

1970s Sweet Bucket - 1.5kg of sweets from the 1970s, including Fizzy Cola Bottles, Midget Gems, Kola Cubes, Liquorice Comfits, Foam Shrimps, Lemon Sherbets, Anglo Bubbly, Double Dip, Cadbury Fudge, Candy Whistle, Black Jacks, Fruit Salads, Love Hearts, Refreshers, Double Lollies, Refresher Chew & lots more.

1980s Sweet Bucket - 1.5kg of sweets from the 1980s, including Cola Bottles, Sherbet Pips, Pineapple Cubes, Milk Teeth, Fish & Chips, Bon Bons, Wham Bars, Sherbet Fountains, Popping Candy, Dip Dab, Anglo Bubbly, Black Jacks, Fruit Salads, Love Hearts, Refreshers, Double Lollies, Refresher Chew & lots more.

Which one would you buy?  What's your favourite sweet from your favourite decade? Let us know in the comments section below!

As lovers of nostalgic sweets we have a bit of a soft spot for liquorice, and as it turns out a lot of our customers do too! Of all the sweets we sell it’s our liquorice products that always move off the shelves the fastest, and so we thought it might be nice to celebrate the best of British liquorice!

Whatever it is about liquorice that people love so much, we always have plenty of the best British liquorice sweets stocked up and ready to sell. Whether you come into the Masham sweet shop or buy from us online, we want our customers to end up only with their favourites and to get the most enjoyment from their nostalgic treats.

Here’s some of the most popular liquorice products that we sell at Bah Humbugs to stimulate your sweet tooth:

Pontefract Cakes

Also known as Pomfret and Pomfrey cakes, these hard little liquorice discs have been a staple in any sweet lovers diet for decades and is easily one of our most popular products. It makes sense when you think about it; like many of the best British sweets Pontefract cakes come from Yorkshire which is where our shop is based!

We’ve lost count of how many Pontefract cakes we’ve sold; it’s probably somewhere in the millions at this point! It’s not hard to see why either; they’re notoriously moreish and there’s no such thing as eating just one.

Bassetts Catherine Wheels

When you hear the term ‘Catherine Wheel’ it’s usually fireworks that come to mind, but not always. Bassetts (responsible for the ubiquitous Liquorice Allsorts), have created a new kind of Catherine Wheel, and this time it’s one that you can eat!

Catherine Wheels are long laces of liquorice that have been wrapped around a brightly coloured jelly called a Spog for a great combination of sweetness and the tarter liquorice flavour. It’s another one of our best sellers and you can eat it however you like too, either by unravelling it and saving the jelly button for last or by scoffing it all in one go, it’s up to you!

Dutch Liquorices

We stock all kinds of Dutch Treats liquorice products so it didn’t seem fair to choose just one! If you thought we Brits were nuts on liquorice we’ve got nothing compared to the Dutch; their love of liquorice (or ‘drop’ as they call it) is nothing short of legendary!

Highlights from Dutch Treats include Salty Liquorice, Liquorice Chalk, Fruit Duos and even Liquorice blended with honey. You can check out our full range in our online shop, and if we don’t stock your favourite then all you have to do is get in touch and we’ll see if we can get it in for you.

Liquorice has always been a best-seller at Bah Humbugs, but what is it about liquorice that gets your mouth watering? Share your thoughts with us, and make sure that you have your favourite liquorice treat today!

So it's obvious that i totally LOVE all things retro - that's half the reason that i opened Bah Humbugs. I loved sweets & couldn't get all the sweets that we used to eat as kids so i did some research and found they were still being made - a month later I'd opened Bah Humbugs (that was 11 years ago!).

Now i love the internet, half of my sales are generated online so i love it for that reason. But i do worry that our lives are becoming far too reliant upon IPads and Tablets, and that our kids will miss out having not been brought up with things such as Emu, Wacaday, The Krankees, Meg & Mog, Rainbow, Blockbusters, Roland Rat. Shops used to be shut on Sundays and they were a proper family day - we used to spend Sundays logging (reluctantly) on my parents' farm, playing on bikes, skateboards (none of us could actually do it). And Saturday nights were spent watching classic tv like The A Team, Dukes of Hazard, Blind Date, Knightrider. What are the equivalents nowadays? I guess it will be Mr Tumble, Show me Show me and other similar Cbeebies programmes. But back then we only had 4 channels to choose from, and when kids tv was over in the Broom Cupboard, that was that!

My mum used to rent our video player from the local electric shop - i bet we must have paid for it 10 times over before we actually bought one and we only had sweets on a Saturday (sweetie day). I'm trying to do this with my kids but it's tough when i run a sweet shop! I never owned a shell suit or moon boots, but i did have a wonderful jacket with some fabulous shoulder pads in from Tammy Girl which i wore to my cousin's wedding, along with some classy culottes.

This week I stumbled upon this amazing video this week depicting life in the 1970's & 1980's and boy has it brought back some totally amazing memories. Take a look at it here and i guarantee you're going to love it - moon boots, shell suits, Michael Fish, Timmy Mallet, Swap Shop, Spangles, Space Raiders, Mrs Mangle and Popping Candy at the ready..........

And don't forget that you can get Space Dust and all the other delicious sweets from the 1980s at our Online Sweet Shop and if you're looking for a specific sweet gift from the 1970's and 1980's then you've got to check out our Decade Sweet Buckets - perfect for anyone with a sweet tooth who fancies a trip down memory lane.

1970s Sweets - Groovy Seventies Sweet Bucket

Groovy Seventies Sweets

All the fantastic sweets from the 1970s including Lion's Midget Gems, Fizzy Cola Bottles, Foam Shrimps, Drumsticks, Refresher Chews, Cadbury Fudges, Double Lollies, Parma Violets, Sherbet Lemons, Popping Candy and tonnes more. Only £19.95

1980's Sweets - Epic Eighties Sweet Bucket

1500g of scrumptious sweets from the 1980s including Wham Bars, Highland Toffee Bars, Sherbet Fountains, Refresher Chews, Black Jacks, Fruit Salads, Anglo Bubbly, Drumsticks, Love Hearts, Dip Dabs, Fish & Chips, Sherbet Pips, Cola Bottles and loads more. £19.95

What are your happy memories from this era?

As the weather gets warmer (slightly), we all start looking forward to what summer will bring.  We know there will be weddings all over the country, in churches, stately homes, gardens, chapels, by riversides, on beaches and anywhere else that today's happy couples can think of to make their big day that little bit special and unusual.

Here at Bah Humbugs we are always delighted to be a part of such celebrations.  We have supplied wedding favours, table decorations, wedding gifts, bridesmaids favours and more in the past and are now delighted to be the proud owners of our very own Sweet Cart!!

This great Sweet Cart can be hired from us and can include the jars, sweets, scoops and bags for your guests to help themselves.  We also do a range of delicious pre-bagged Fudge, a selection of lucky bags, cones of sweets or sweet buckets if you wanted some of your sweets pre-packed.

Sweets can be of your own choosing if you wish to follow a theme for your big day, or you can leave the choice to the team at Bah Humbugs who will organise a selection according to your budget and guest numbers.

A selection of sugar free, gluten free, gelatine free sweets are also available so we can meet most dietary requirements.

If you are thinking of having a Sweet Cart at your wedding why not give us a quick call to the number on the website or drop us an email and we can discuss your requirements.

And a Sweet Cart is not just for weddings...... if you want to throw a special birthday party, have something different at a baby shower, a hen do, a christening party, then why not hire the cart.  We have ranges of sweets that we specialise in such as Scandinavian liquorice, retro sweets by the decade, pick n mix, a fantastic range of boiled sweets, toffees, fudges, bon bons and much, much more!

Let your imagination go wild and get in touch to make the arrangements!

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I don't know about you but our winters seem to get longer and darker, although in Yorkshire we seem to have avoided any deep snow falls or treacherous black ice so it's not all bad.

Now that the sun is shining we can turn our minds to a little spring cleaning, stock replenishing, and that general feeling of renewed energy that puts a spring in everyone's step.

We've introduced a few new product lines recently and if you haven't already seen them on our website why not check them out now?  Our bonanza of buckets include amazing decade themed treats which are great for birthday gifts or why not give yourself a gift of a trip down memory lane - choose from Fabulous Fifties, Swinging Sixties, Groovy Seventies or Epic Eighties

Check out our Bucket Full of Treats -  fabulous buckets filled to the brim with your favourite sweets like Giant Strawbs, Midget Gems, Fizzy Cola Bottles, Retro Sweets plus many more!  In fact, you can choose whatever sweet you like from our range and we can make it into a Bucket Full of Treats just for you!

Get in touch with us if there's anything you fancy........ and enjoy the sunshine

NEW PRODUCT ALERT!

Riley's Toffee Rolls

Bah Humbugs now stocks delicious RILEY'S TOFFEE ROLLS - do you remember them?

Originally made in the early 1900's by the Riley Brothers these chocolates eventually fell into the hands of Kraft. Thankfully the great-neice of Ella Riley (Freya) discovered a hand written recipe detailing how to make these delicious Toffee Rolls and she started making them a couple of year ago.

Today they're all made, completely by hand by Freya and her husband Steve in their sweet shop in Bridgend. But they're a Yorkshire sweet & so many of our customers asked us for regularly for them that we just had to get them in for you to try - because we just love all things that combine confectionery and Yorkshire!

They taste exactly the same as they used to, but there is one difference and that is the texture - the toffee is slightly softer (because it's kinder for our teeth). Other than that, they remain the same - they are made to the same recipe you see.

Not only are we now stocking Riley's Toffee Rolls we also have in stock Riley's Salted Caramels which really very tasty indeed; the combination of salt and Riley's Toffee Roll is a taste sensation which has to be tried, so what are you waiting for? Add them to your shopping cart and wait for the postie to deliver them through the door.

And if you'd like to learn a bit more about the Riley Toffee Roll story, then just click on this short video below.