Polly's know their target market: secondary school kid sugar junkies. They even have an "express…read morelane" for the busy after-school period. It is quite a sweet little shop, with pink and white candy stripes and wooden shelves lined with jars of appetising goodies and treats. The also sell ice "fruit" slushies - I use the inverted commas because I suspect fruit has very little to do with it. I write this review having consumed a blue raspberry flavoured one (while we are on the subject, why is raspberry always blue?). I feel pretty wired and it was only 60p! Cheaper than an espresso, a can of Red Bull or, even, a can of Blue Charge! The lady who served me was really friendly and had good hair.

Teddy Gray's is my favourite sweet shop in the entire world - and I've been to a lot of sweet…read moreshops. Ye olde worlde sweet shops are ten-a-penny at the moment. Teddy Grays have been doing the whole "retro sweets in jars" thing since before the sweets were even considered retro. This stall on Cradley Heath Market is wonderful. They sell sugar mice, cola cubes, humbugs, sherbet pips... ...you name the sweet treat and they'll have it. My favourites are the chunks of pineapple rock and the famous Teddy Gray's herbal tablets. The sweets are reasonably priced and there's none of that annoying "good old days" pretension that you find in some pseudo-traditional sweet shops. The ladies behind the counter are classic Black Country and perhaps a little bit scary. The good thing is that they know what you mean when you ask for a quarter of jelly teddies. In your face metric system!

You can't not love Teddy Gray's. As a Dudley manufacturer they are so local it would be rude not to…read moresupport them and if you really have the need for large quantities of custom rock then get in touch and they can make it for you. I love visiting Teddy Gray's, especially when I know I'm going to get served by proper Black Country lasses who still understand you asking for quarters of sweets rather than kilograms. It makes me sad when I can't buy proper sweets from a sweetie jar in my local shop so i tend to go a bit mad and buy too many quarters of all sorts of things from rhubarb and custard, alphabet letters, cola cubes and cinder toffee. Yummy, now I'm feeling the need to sugary badness.

I hate it when sweets shops put there prices up, just because they're located on a main high…read morestreet. Black Country Sweets definitely proves that it's worth taking the risk in seeking out the less obvious candy shops, and sells produce at 75p per 100g; Bargain! Entering the tiny premises, I was greeted by shelves full of sweets jars. Three bags of sugary treats for £2? Double bargain! Now, what do I choose?! Do I go for licorice and jelly babies and jazzies? Or do I go for cola cubes? Or do I go for black jacks? Hmmmm. I apologised to the store owner for taking so long to pick my selections, and he replies "don't worry, the record for choosing is 27 minutes!" - Woah! Insane! (He really does have an extensive selection though!) Once I finally decided what I wanted, I was then tempted by the sugar mice and sherbert fountains sitting at the till. Argh, I'll go for them too! I love the shop owner in here, he's absolutely hilarious and brought a smile to my face immediately. Especially when he informed me that: "maintaining a sweet shop is harder than my previous job as a builder." What a truly great eccentric!

There is nothing more I love than sweets and the traditional sweets they have on selection here I…read moreremember from my childhood. Every Sunday my late Granddad would go out in the morning and buy the Grandkids a 20p mix bag of sweets. He told me that when I was 16 he would stop buying me a 20p mix every week and give me a half can of Special Brew lager instead. I always preferred the sweets. Milk mice, pink prawns, rainbow dust; they sell the lot here. They do focus on old traditional sweets, but as I love them I have no problem with this. Definitely worth a look in my opinion. Just don't forget to brush your teeth afterwards.

Top quality chocolate chain. My personal favourites are the rum truffles. Also great for…read morehandwritten names on easter eggs too.