You’ve heard of ice cream vans, but what about floating sweet shop? A couple in West Yorkshire sail that home-cum-sweet-shop called Pendle Witch Sweets found on the Leeds Liverpool canal selling and kind of tasty treats for you to enjoy.
The sweet shop with a difference sells everyone’s favourite traditional sweets such as bonbons, toffees, eclairs and boiled sweets like Yorkshire Mix and Rhubarb and Custard for £1 per 100 grams.
Run by Pat Creaven and wife Jill, Pendle Witch Sweet shop stops at a range of points along the canal between Rodly in Leeds, to Foulridge in Pendal and have also been to visit Skipton.
Run by Pat Creaven and his wife Jill, Pendle Witch Sweets stops at various points along the canal – sailing between Rodley, Leeds, to Foulridge in Pendle.
The couple, who bought their barge back in 2017, originally hoped to cruise the UK’s canal ways but had to change their plans due to lockdown. Pat ever the entrepreneur Pat purchased an old pair of scales and opened a sweet shop on the boat.
According to Yorkshire Evening Post, Pat said: “During lockdown, we purchased some old fashioned Woolworths scales, so I decided to set up a sweet shop business, to my wife’s dismay.
“I started on the markets when I was 15, so I thought ‘I’ll finish on the markets’.”
“We set the sweet boat up and it’s been a success since.”
He added: “It’s a trip down memory lane, who didn’t love a sweet shop when they were a kid?
“It’s that memory of sweets, you can walk along the canal and bring back memories.
“We travel up and down the Leeds-Liverpool canal and stop at various stations.
“We do things the old-fashioned way, we weigh the sweets out for the kids and try to educate them on the way things used to be done.
“We know where we are by the popularity of the sweet. If we’re in Gargrave, they love their sarsaparilla-crazy. In Rodley, they love their midget gems and wine gums.”
He added: “You can’t beat it, every morning you wake up and you have a different view. When you get used to one view, it’s time to move.
“We enjoy travelling by the water, we were in Ireland for a long time. We have done most of Ireland and most of the UK canal system.”
They are colour-coded sweets for people with dietary requirements, including gluten-free and items suitable for vegetarians and vegans.
If you’d like to find out where the Traditional (floating) sweet shop is, you will find us them on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. Follow them here for more information.
Read More: 5 Of The Most Idyllic Canal Walks In West Yorkshire
