Inside Bristol's 'biggest sweetshop' that's celebrating 40 years in the business

A Bristol sweets wholesaler is celebrating 40 years of trading.

Hancocks’ has sweet treats piled high on the shelves of its warehouse in Avonmouth.

The business was originally founded by Ray and Elizabeth Hancock in 1962, when the couple started wholesaling confectionery from their sweet shop near the Midlands town of Loughborough.

The firm’s Bristol base stocks around 5,000 branded and own label products.

Hancocks’ area manager for the south Ian Hayes says a more expansive assortment of pick and mix can be found at the Bristol store, in a nod to the visitor attractions across the South West.

He said: “Seaside towns are catered for on the shop floor, we’ve got the rock and the hard boiled sweets, lollipops and the pick and mix.

"There are a lot of fairground and show people who shop in here and they tend to change their events seasonally, so they may be a summer fair at the minute, which is why we are currently catering for lollipops and the cables, and then it might go to a winter wonderland type fair, and then all of a sudden it will be marshmallows for roasting, or candy canes."

Hancocks has been supplying leisure outlets and theme parks across the south west since its regional base was first opened by the Lord Mayor of Bristol in April 1983.

The depot was once a filming location for an episode of TV series Skins.

The old classics, like pick and mix, have endured throughout that period but there are different trends that come and go over the years.

And it’s not just on its shelves where Hancocks has spotted cyclical change, it's also the variety of clients who have been coming through its doors, or shopping with it online.

Mr Hancock and Mr Hayes explained that during the Covid-19 pandemic, when many workers were placed on furlough and pick and mix sweets became harder to get hold off amid concerns about cross contamination, people began setting up their own online businesses bagging up pick and mix.

Mr Hayes said: "That just boomed overnight. Quite often we would supply them with pick and mix and they would open it up, putting it in their pots, sticking their labels on it and it was becoming their product. Some of them are still going strong, some have gone back to their normal jobs and they’re doing it part-time, and some have gone completely."

Daniel Hancock, store manager, said the resulting shut down of some of the firm’s key South West clients within the hospitality trade did have "a knock on effect" on the wholesaler.

Mr Hancock said: "Luckily, when the sanctions started coming into place and everyone had their required two-metre gap and masks, [business] started to come back alright. A lot of people used to go abroad, and then of course the staycation became involved, so for all these businesses, which did suffer as they had to shut, all this money came back when people started to go to them in Weston-super-Mare, for example."

Mr Hayes said the wider economic conditions and the cost of living crisis posed challenges, adding: "Raw material costs have probably been the biggest challenge and trying not to pass on to our customers. The challenge for us is how we negotiate with them not to pass it on."

Mr Hancock admitted that being able to try the ever-changing range of sweets and confectionery Hancocks supplies was "one of the perks of the job", adding: "The best way of selling something is understanding what you sell."

Mr Hayes agreed, adding: "You can’t tell someone something tastes amazing if you haven’t tasted it yourself. Head office are very good at sending out samples for the guys to use and try, in moderation though, I don’t think anyone goes hell for leather on it!

"But there is always a buzz of excitement when something new comes out and you get the chase to try it. You end up walking around with a blue tongue speaking to people because you have tried a new product - it's great and it's so much fun!"