The Best Sweet Shops in the Peak District
- Jen Bell I Editor I Good Life List Peak District
- Jun 15
- 6 min read
There are two types of people in the world.
People who can walk past a sweet shop without going in.
And people who tell themselves they're only popping in for a quick look before emerging twenty minutes later with a quarter of rhubarb and custards, a bag of cola cubes and enough strawberry laces to last until at least Matlock.
We fall firmly into the second camp.
Fortunately, the Peak District offers plenty of opportunities to make poor decisions in the confectionery department. From old-fashioned sweet shops and handmade fudge to luxury chocolates and village favourites, these are the places we'd recommend detouring for.
Research for this article may have involved a considerable amount of sugar.
The Georgian House Sweet Shop, Bakewell
The first surprise is how much of it there is.
From the street, The Georgian House looks fairly modest. Nice enough, certainly, but nothing that prepares you for what happens when you wander beyond the counter and into the second room. We actually gasped. What appears to be a fairly ordinary sweet shop suddenly unfolds into a huge room lined with jars, sweets and old-fashioned favourites. It feels less like a shop and more like somebody accidentally discovered a portal to a parallel universe where the year is 1953 and everybody is paid in sherbet lemons.
The shelves are filled with the sort of sweets that trigger memories you didn't realise were still in there. During our visit we spotted whisky and ginger boiled sweets, rainbow pencils, strawberry-filled mallows, candy necklaces and enough fizzy sweets to keep an entire primary school awake until Christmas. The best thing about the place, however, may be the fact it appears completely uninterested in modern marketing. There is no website. No Instagram account. No carefully staged videos explaining the history of pear drops. Just shelves full of sweets, customers clutching little paper bags and a business carrying on exactly as it always has.
Our picks: Whisky and ginger boiled sweets, rainbow pencils and anything measured out by the quarter.
Insider intel: Bring cash. Card payments aren't accepted and somehow that only adds to the experience.
Sweet Emporium, Bakewell
If The Georgian House is old-school nostalgia, Sweet Emporium is pure temptation.
Every shelf, basket and display seems to contain something capable of derailing even the strongest intentions. We watched one child walk in determined to buy jelly babies and leave ten minutes later carrying a bag containing approximately seventeen different sweets and no jelly babies whatsoever. Frankly, we've all been there.
The pick and mix selection is enormous. Sour apples, jumbo cola bottles, Porky Pigs, fizzy cherries and enough brightly coloured sugar to make a dentist break into a cold sweat. It's impossible to browse without spotting at least three things you'd forgotten existed and another three you've never tried before.
Our picks: Sour apples, jumbo cola bottles and Porky Pigs.
Insider intel: Leave room in your bag. You'll almost certainly spot something you haven't seen since primary school.
Roly's Fudge Pantry, Bakewell
You can usually smell Roly's before you see it.
The scent of freshly made fudge drifts down the street and performs the sort of marketing most businesses can only dream about. We suspect many visitors arrive fully intending to walk straight past before finding themselves standing at the counter moments later wondering how things escalated so quickly.
Inside you'll find slabs of handmade fudge in every direction. During our visit we spotted lemon meringue, sea salt and rum and raisin. The latter nearly came home with us. One of the dangers of Roly's is the free samples. They seem harmless enough when offered. Five minutes later you're standing at the till wondering how a tiny cube of fudge somehow resulted in several boxes making their way into your shopping bag.
Our pick: Rum and raisin fudge. No debate required.
Insider intel: Accept the free sample. Resistance is futile at this point anyway.
The Little Sweet Shop, Calver
The Little Sweet Shop feels like the sort of business every village wishes it had.
Run by Flossy, who also designs much of the branding, packaging and gift range, it combines traditional sweets with gifts, family events and a genuine sense of community. The sweets are excellent, of course. We left with strawberry bonbons, sherbet lemons and flying saucers, which remain one of Britain's most baffling but enjoyable confectionery creations.
The surprise comes when you head outside. Behind the shop is a garden area complete with games, a playhouse and family activities throughout the holidays. It feels wonderfully old-fashioned. Children disappear off to play while parents sit down with a coffee and enjoy five uninterrupted minutes. Any parent reading this will understand the value of that.
Our picks: Strawberry bonbons, sherbet lemons and flying saucers.
Insider intel: Don't miss the garden behind the shop. It's one of the best family-friendly spots on this list.
Sweet Gene's, Baslow
Part sweet shop, part ice cream stop and one of Baslow's most popular pit stops, Sweet Gene's sits just a few minutes from Chatsworth and seems to attract walkers, cyclists, families and hungry tourists in fairly equal measure.
The shelves are filled with traditional favourites. Chocolate limes, cola pips, cherry lips and enough old-school classics to transport most adults straight back to childhood. The main attraction during our visit, however, wasn't sitting on a shelf at all. It was the sour sweet challenge.
For the princely sum of 5p a sweet, customers are invited to suck one of Sweet Gene's notoriously sour sweets without reacting. This sounded straightforward enough until we attempted it. Within seconds there were strange noises, questionable facial expressions and a complete collapse in dignity. Our youngest son still insists he didn't react at all despite the existence of video evidence suggesting otherwise.
Our picks: Chocolate limes, cherry lips and whichever sour sweet is currently terrifying visitors.
Insider intel: Grab an ice cream and walk towards Chatsworth along the riverside path. It's one of the nicest short strolls in the area.
Sweetilicious, Longnor
Longnor already has plenty going for it. Stone cottages, a handsome market square and some excellent walks.
The addition of sweets only improves matters.
Sweetilicious sits just off the main street and stocks more than 150 different varieties. There are jars of traditional favourites, gift ideas and enough nostalgia to keep most adults occupied for longer than they intended. During our visit we also spotted cakes, brownies and various sweet-themed gifts, which only complicated decision-making further.
The village setting adds to the appeal. A visit here feels like an excellent excuse to spend an hour wandering one of the Peak District's prettiest villages before rewarding yourself with a bag of sweets for your efforts.
Our picks: Traditional pick and mix, plus whatever brownies are on the counter.
Insider intel: Combine your visit with a wander around Longnor. You'll be glad you did.
Mr Simms Olde Sweet Shoppe, Buxton
If nostalgia could open a shop, it would probably look like this.
The walls are lined with jars. The shelves are packed with old favourites. Somewhere nearby, an adult is almost certainly saying: "I haven't seen those in years." We heard it several times during our visit.
Mr Simms specialises in traditional sweets, retro classics and beautifully presented gifts. Sherbet lemons, pear drops, cola cubes, liquorice and enough childhood favourites to trigger a flood of memories all make an appearance. There is also a sizeable American sweets section for anybody interested in Reese's, Hershey's and confectionery that appears to have been designed by particularly enthusiastic food scientists.
Our picks: Sugar mice, baby gobstoppers and the ultra-sour sweets if you're feeling brave.
Insider intel: Play sweet shop bingo, it's the hugest fun. Listen carefully and count how many times you hear somebody say, "I haven't seen those in years."
Holdsworth Chocolates, Bakewell
Not every sweet treat comes in a paper bag.
Founded in Derbyshire, Holdsworth Chocolates has built a reputation for producing luxury chocolates that look almost too good to eat. Almost.
The beautifully packaged chocolates make excellent gifts, though we suspect many purchases intended for other people mysteriously never make it that far. The pink prosecco truffles were a standout during our visit, while the caramel chocolate buttons disappeared with alarming speed.
If the other shops on this list are about childhood nostalgia, Holdsworth feels like the grown-up version of a sweet shop.
Our picks: Pink prosecco truffles and caramel chocolate buttons.
Insider intel: Buy two boxes. One for the gift recipient and one for yourself.
The Good Life List Sweet Shop Test
We've spent far too much time thinking about this, but we've decided every great sweet shop should stock at least five of the following:
• Rhubarb and Custards
• Strawberry Bonbons
• Cola Cubes
• Pear Drops
• Sherbet Lemons
If all five are present, we're interested.
If they also stock Black Jacks and Fruit Salads, we're probably buying something.
The Ultimate Peak District Sugar Trail
If we were planning the perfect sweet-toothed day out, we'd start in Bakewell with The Georgian House Sweet Shop, Sweet Emporium and Roly's Fudge Pantry before heading out for a long walk to convince ourselves we'd earned it.
Whether that walk actually happens is another matter entirely.
