I don't know if you have one of these stores near you or not, but I am noticing a trend of late for American food stuffs in shops, and even dedicated stores opening up.

Until recently in Newcastle, your best bet for getting American sweets and stuff was going to Fenwicks, which has maintained a small American selection in their food court for a while now. Now at the Metro Centre, there is an American sweet shop that is doing so well that a second store is opening in Eldon Square soon.

The selection is brilliant, though you have to be smart when you shop there. £1.30 for a bag of Ranch flavoured Doritos, the nearly identical Cool Original available for 30p elsewhere. Filter out the stuff that's readily available elsewhere in the UK and you can find some great stuff. I am particularly fond of the Nerds selection, since Nerds seemed to vanish from stores here years ago. The shop is usually rammed and the prices (I am told) are cheaper than ordering stuff online.

I wonder what the sudden attraction to American sweets is. Maybe it's the fact that they still taste like sweets? Do-gooders in the UK seem to have ruined sweets for us. Everything we make tastes bland and insipid. Even Haribo Tangfastics are now squishy and bland. Buy a can of American pop there and you'll probably be amazed at how delicious it tastes, not like the the piss that seems to have replaced most of our favourite pops overnight.

Anyone else have a taste for the American stuff, and anything worth trying? One thing I would recommend everyone try is a Payday bar. Salty peanuts on the outside and a delicious caramel interior (with a consistency like soft fudge) that probably pre-dated the wky chef trend of serving caramel with salt by many years!

Quite often pop into the Chinese food shop in Reading which sells original Mountain Dew from the US (not the "Energy Drink" version everyone sells these days". Fantastic

I went into an American sweet shop in Islington a few weeks ago and couldn't believe the range of things they had. I recognised most of the brands (M&Ms for example), but whereas we have 2 or 3 varieties of things, they had 7-10....

Cybercandy have been doing this for years. They have four shops in London (Covent Garden, Islington, Camden and Shoreditch) and shops in Birmingham and Brighton.

http://www.cybercandy.co.uk/

You should all buy loads of them, honestly they're brilliant. Especially the sodas and candy, they're even more brilliant, and if you like them so much, you should totally consider selling them yourself.


Regards,
The guy who supplies a fair chunk of the stores which sell them

Yep. And is hugely bad for weight.

I don't rate American sweets, candies or chocolate. It's just a huge sugar hit and artificial taste.

"every day British favorites"

"harbio tangfantastics"

and whether it;s just psychological I often detect a bit of a maizey aftertaste ... ?from the HFCS .

the only Merkin 'Soda' i rate is the 'proper' mountain dew - as colonial says the US go crazy over pop sweetened with actual sugar rather than HFCS

Garson's Farm in West End nr Esher sells a lot of American stuff (probably due to the American Community School?) and Bentalls have a section on the lower floor; personally, I love grape soda and reeces pieces, but most American 'candy' is naff.

there is also stateside candy co, online and in aldershot & guildford,

i have to set a budget or i can get carried away, twizzlers ftw!