Let’s go back to when sweets were fun

and a family firm could lead an industry…

‘This is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for grown-ups.

Inside are treats for all: nostalgia freaks, social historians, machinery nerds – and anyone interested in marketing, manufacturing or the history of British tooth decay.’

Lucy Kellaway, Financial Times

The Trebor Story Front Cover low res

‘This is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for grown-ups.

Inside are treats for all: nostalgia freaks, social historians, machinery nerds – and anyone interested in marketing, manufacturing or the history of British tooth decay.’

Lucy Kellaway, Financial Times

The story in brief

Britain’s industry once rose on the back of family firms like Trebor – plucky, private ventures that punched above their weight. From hard roots in the Victorian East End of London, this tiny sugar-boiling enterprise grew to become the nation’s biggest maker of sugar confectionery.

Many Trebor sweets are legendary. Refreshers. Extra Strong Mints. Black Jacks. Fruit Salad. Over time the Trebor family added other iconic names: Sharps Toffees, Clarnico Mint Creams, Topps Bubble Gum and Maynards Wine Gums.

The Trebor Story brings back the world that made those sweets: the  factories and sales vans, the darts teams and work outings – all the ecosystem of a thriving family business, from a time when managers could tend a firm rather than simply feed shareholders.

Enjoy here

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History

Decade by decade, how Trebor became a world leader in sweets

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Wrappers

Gorgeous sweet wrappers from the 1920s to the 1980s

Past Candy Queens

Life

Fascinating snapshots of a firm at work and play

And other treats

The famous Mr Soft TV ad from 1987, selling Trebor Softmints with a song sounding like The Cure. 'Mr Soft won't you tell me why the world in which you're living is so straaaange ... how come everything around you is so soft and re-arraaaanged.'

Retro TV Ads

They don't make 'em like this any more

Matthew Crampton lives in London and works as a writer, storyteller and singer. The Trebor Story is a personal story for him. As he writes in the introduction, ‘My uncle ran sweet factories. He was the man who made Refreshers and Black Jacks and those huge Sharps chocolate eggs that arrived at Easter.’ Matthew’s uncle was John Marks, chairman of Trebor. Read more about Matthew, including an excerpt from his introduction to the book.