Step through the door of The Oldest Sweet Shop and the favourites are still the old staples.

The candy shop in Pateley Bridge, North Yorkshire, was founded in 1827 and, after 199 years in business, owner Ben Howie says classics like pear drops, bonbons and humbugs remain its best sellers.

The shop has survived two world wars and a global pandemic. Howie, 29, from Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, took over the historic business in 2021.

He said: “We sell all types of treats, but the traditional hard-boiled candies are by far our best sellers.

“We have all different types from across different centuries but it’s the old ones people want, I guess you can’t escape the classics, they are still the favorites for a reason.

“So it seems the country’s sweet tooth hasn’t changed too much.”

Hard-boiled sweets including pear drops, humbugs, midget gems, cola cubs, and rhubarb and custards are still proving as popular as they did in the 1800s and 1900s, although Howie said modern candies like Haribo gummy bears are also popular.

In 2014, Guinness World Records named it the oldest candy shop in the world.

It operates from a 400-year-old building that holds about 30 people at a time, and customers have travelled from as far as Sydney and China to visit.

Around 20,000 visitors go into the shop each year. Howie said it is about the size of an average living room.

The family-run business has remained virtually unchanged, with large glass jars on dark wooden shelves and the original till, which previous owner Keith Tordoff rescued after recognising it in an antique shop.

Howie’s brother James, 21, also works in the shop and helps with online sales.

James Howie said the store feels like a “blast from the past” for many older customers.

He said: “There are candy shops everywhere, but you never find one like ours with old-fashioned jars, and the antique till.

“There is a lot of nostalgia in here.

“It isn’t uncommon for customers to come in and be ruing over which candies they want like Fruit Salads or wine gums.

“They can be inside making up their minds for 20 minutes, and even when they come to the till they aren’t sure.”

The brothers said rising costs forced them to change the price of the shop’s 1-cent candies after COVID to 5 cents.

James Howie said: “We had to change the price just after COVID up to 5 cents, which was a huge shame.

“It was a staple for a lot of people, but it just wasn’t sustainable to be able to pay for the cost of the product and bills.

“It would have been great to keep, but we couldn’t, unfortunately.”

Ben and James Howie have also built an online website for customer orders, which they said has helped grow the business.

James Howie said his favourite candies are raspberry bonbons and Dolly Mix.

Ben Howie said: “Seeing the customers come in and be excited about the shop and the candies is great, it really excites me.

“Hopefully, we can keep going for another 200 years.”