QYPE*

I first discovered Cybercandy online at www.cybercandy.co.uk and it took me a while to actually realise they had a real, physical shop just a few miles away from my office in the West End.

My waistline and my teeth have not been the same since that fateful day, but let me tell you I am a happier, more content and definitely more hyperactive human being thanks to this discovery.

First things first: don’t go to Cybercandy to browse.

Browse sweets, are you kidding?

You will regress to the age of about 8 or 9 once you enter the door and (if you’re anything like me) you will just start grabbing handfuls of stuff just because it looks colourful or has the word NEW! on the front. This is proper impulse buying.

Cybercandy isn’t a retro sweetshop though, don’t go expecting cola cubes or Pear Drops. This is a ‘weird’ sweetshop i.e. confectionery you don’t normally find in this country. So there’s plenty of American treats like Hershey and Twinkies and weird flavoured M&Ms that you can’t normally get over here (peanut butter, dark chocolate….mmm).

Then there’s the Asian varieties, and this is where it gets seriously weird. Pitiful Dog is (as far as I can make out) a Japanese canine character who gets into horrible situations such as getting his head caught in a tyre. And they’ve based a line of sweets around him which contain a little plastic model of this poor dog in a sad situation. No one else in the office is going to have a ‘pitiful dog’ toy on their desk. Be the first!

As well as sweets they have great drinks in the fridge: Blak Cola (basically coffee flavoured, rocket fuel, coke), Cherry Diet Dr Pepper etc. And even classic US cereals like Cap’n Crunch and Fruit Loops.

The whole place is like an Aladdin’s Cave for sugar junkies. My favourites? Well I’m a bit of a licorice addict so I love Hershey’s Good and Plenty and I’m a big fan of the admittedly plasticy Strawberry Twizzlers.

It’s not exactly cheap here, they import all the stuff so you’re paying a bit extra just to be able to get this stuff on these shores but I would say a a monthly… ok maybe fortnightly treat, it’s absolutely worth a fiver… ok maybe a tenner, of anyone’s money.

Just don’t come crying to me when you’ve made yourself sick.