Suck and Chew

Anyone who favours a flying saucer over some spearmint flavour gum will find something to love here. Decorated like my nan's living room with Victoriana scraps and royalist memorabilia everywhere, it has jars and jars of old-fashioned sweets to rot your teeth.

The other reviews are right; it's woefully overpriced. £3 for a seasonally-bunded up packet of Love Hearts just isn't on. And I don't need a £30 Prince Charles trinket tin filled with penny sweets - but is it wrong that I kind of want it?

what a wondrful place. I always take a trip down the market but don't aways visit the shops. can't belive I missed this. It's an aladins cave of sweets you remember as a kid and some you've never heard of before. popular shop. I rubbed shoulders with a an indie band frontman and his model/ presenter girlfriend. A lot of the sweets here are still made by hand. Some i've never seen for 20 years.. Sweet peanut anyone? it's great, non of that cheep haribo stuff. well worth a visit.

just started reviewing so i thought i'd start with my favorate places. Columbia Road. I'd seen photos of suck and chew on blogs and I wasn't disappointed. there are sweets here I'd never heard of, Coltsfoot rock anyone? and a few old faves I stocked up on. parma violets, sweet peanuts..slabs of toffee. the look of the shop is vintage east end. it compliments the street. columbia road is a great way to spend a sunday morning

I really really want to love this place. I adore old school sweet shops (and indeed, old school sweeties) but this place just doesn't ring true for me. It's all very 'staged'.

It doesn't feel like an old sweet shop. Instead, it feels like a brand new sweet shop with a few old school touches. And that just doesn't do it for me. But, I'm always going to get excited about huge jars of sweets behind a counter. It's suddenly like being 9 again and spending all of your pocket money on sweeties (always in those paper bags that would disintegrate in your pocket). Rhubarb and custard were my favourites.

But despite this store being rather cute, it's so expensive. £2.99 for a teensy tiny packet of Jazzies? The very same Jazzies I can buy in Asda? There doesn't seem much point to me. Sure, some of the more unusual stuff might be worthwhile, but why pay over the odds for something just because there's some interesting decoration in a shop? Can't help but feel that you're paying to cover their Columbia Road rent.