Toot sweet!

A MYRIAD colours, the smell of fruit and chocolate, the rustle of cellophane and the clunk as jars are replaced on the shelves.

Anticipation is part of the fun of buying sweets, but the main joy is in eating them.

But traditional sweet shops are a dying breed. Gone are the days of a 6d mix-up, a quarter of blackjacks, the worn wooden counter and the ding of the bell on the way out.

In these modern times we have pick'n'mix, row upon row of imported confectionery in plastic bins and the obligatory barcode stamped upon everything.

It is mass-market and served to us from a conveyor belt accompanied by the soulless beep of the scanner and wrapped in a cellophane bag, measured, of course, in grams.

Going into Mardy's Sweet Shop in Totton is like stepping back in time.

Those long-forgotten sweets from your childhood line the walls in glass jars and are still served the traditional way in paper bags.

Ironically not a keen sweet-eater himself, owner Robin Stratton and wife Kathy are obviously passionate about their business.

Kathy runs a second sweetshop in Lyndhurst, and in the 25 years they have been in the sweet business, neither of them has had a holiday.

Mardy's is open from 10am until 9pm, and it's not unusual for people to drop in late at night for sweets.

"We are the nicest vice shop in town," laughs Robin.

The small shop on Eling Lane has been a sweetshop for 62 years and Robin is the fourth owner.

"The shop had been on the market for a long time," recalls Robin. "We used to have a general store in Cadnam but fancied a new challenge.

"It was known as Mardy's because the second owner was a lady called Mrs Mardon, who was loved by all the children that used the shop. We stuck with the name because everyone in the area knows it by that name, even now.

"The children we used to serve have grown up and are bringing their children in now."

Both Robin and Cathy's families have had an involvement in the sweet trade. Cathy's great-grandmother used to own a toffee apple shop in Blackpool.

Robin's great-grandparents ran Wiltshire's Sweet Shop in West End High Street.

"It's sad that most traditional sweet shops have closed down now," says Robin.

"Supermarkets have driven most out of business, with their prepacked bags of foreign sweets.

"Around 80 per cent of our sweets are from British companies. One of the companies we use makes all the sweets by hand so we have to put in our orders six weeks in advance.

"A supermarket has tried to close us down, but our popularity with the locals won the day."

And it isn't just locals who know Mardy's. Robin gets customers from all over the country and abroad.

During the Falkland and Gulf wars, he had many families of soldiers coming in to buy sweets to send out to our boys.

It does not just stop at members of the public who love sweets - celebrities use Robin's shop and even royalty has been know to visit.

"Benny Hill would come in every fortnight," Robin grins. "He would buy a quarter each of Fox's glacier mints and American hard gums.

"He was ever so stingy. If it weighed over a quarter he would want some taking out.

"One of our best-kept secrets is that Prince Charles and Diana would buy chocolate from us.

"In the days when they were courting they would go and stay at Broadlands in Romsey. They would send the head chef over and he would collect for them boxes of Lindt chocolate as at that time we were the only stockist in the area.

"More recently, Cathy had Princess Eugenie come in her Lyndhurst shop."

One of the oldest brands of sweets Robin has in stock is the Tigernut, which was one of the few types of sweet available during the Second World War.

"Some of the sweets people remember have been lost during the years because of Trading Standards," sighs Robin sadly.

"You can't get liquorice pipes any more because apparently they encourage kids to smoke.

"And sweetie cigarettes are called candy stick now and they certainly aren't allowed to be produced with red ends any more.

"We still stock sweet tobacco which is made from coconut. That will probably have to change its name eventually.

"Although we do look like an old-fashioned shop, we have moved with the times and stock sweets and chocolate that don't contain E numbers and are sugar-free.

Robin's oldest customer is 98 years old, and he even has a local family of which four generations come to buy sweets from him.

"If I am ten minutes late opening up at the weekend I will have a queue of kids waiting outside for me," says Robin.

"We have been through two recessions but we have never seen our business suffer.

"When people feel down, buying and eating sweets always cheers them up.

"The largest amount someone has ever spent in one go was £75. I couldn't believe it."

Robin is a bit of a celebrity in his own right. On the shop bags, he has a picture of a character called Mickey Mardy - a name which many people call him by.

"I was having a day off the other day," he smiles. "I was in a big department store when I saw some children staring at me.

"They all started saying 'There's Micky Mardy!' and were following me around the shop.

"It was quite embarrassing but it is quite touching in a way to know that the shop is so well loved."

FACTFILE:

ROBIN'S TOP FIVE BEST SELLERS

1. Rhubarb and custard

2. Sherbet lemons

3. Cola cubes

4. Teacakes

5. Sweet tobacco

The colour of the first successfull bubblegum was pink because it was the only colour the inventor had left. Today bubble gum is still predominantly pink.

74 per cent of children eat the ears on their chocolate Easter bunnies first

The first sweet treat that humans indulged in was most likely honey from beehives.

Aniseed balls were once valued as an aid to disgestion

Humbugs were developed from medieval cold cures .

Liquorice strings were originally used as rough cure for coughs.

Novelty chocolate figures are the descendants of marzipan or cast-sugar ornaments which provided diversion at medieval feasts.

The predecessors of little floral cachous were used by court ladies as breath-fresheners.

Sherbet is an echo of a drink once considered as exotic as any cocktail.