A family-run sweet shop in Hornchurch has been "creating memories" for more than a decade.
Mr Simms Hornchurch, which opened in November 2013, is celebrating its 12th Christmas in High Street this year - and is reflecting on what the festive period looks like at a sweet shop.
Run by franchisees husband and wife duo Philip and Julie Allsop, the shop stocks more than 100 different types of pick n' mix, as well as boiled sweets, gluten-free treats and vegan options.
Christmas is often a time when customers come in to Mr Simms Hornchurch looking for old-school classics, Julie said, like chocolate Brazils and marzipan fruits.
She told the Recorder: "We always enjoy Christmas - it's very nice in the shop.
"It is funny because people come in and say 'have you got any chocolate Brazils - I've been looking everywhere for them!'
"I think people forget that you can still buy all these old-fashioned sweets - you don't have to go to the supermarket and make do with what they give you."
She said other favourites at the moment include cough candy, lemon sherbets, barley sugars and pear drops - the same type of sweets Julie said she would have "got in the 70s when I was a kid".
The shop unites both young and old customers and, while for older customers it is reminiscent of the tuck shops of the past, Julie added that many children who visit have never seen sweets weighed out before.
"What we really love about it is the fact that older people have all got a story about the sweet shops they used to use when they were kids.
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"We like to think that we are creating the same kind of memories for children today."
Julie launched the shop 11 years ago, but now her husband Philip does most of the day-to-day running.
They often employ students from the nearby colleges, and try to make it a "fun" place to work.
While Mr Simms is a franchise, Julie said that the "franchise fee just pays for the name" - and the Hornchurch shop has a personal touch with its home deliveries undertaken by Julie herself.
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She said: "I'll be out there delivering on Christmas Eve.
"It's nice to take sweets to people's doors and see their faces when you turn up. It's lovely."
And the best thing about running Mr Simms Hornchurch?
"You don't normally get an angry person in the sweet shop," Julie said.
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