New Mills sweet factory welcomes trick or treaters in for Halloween

Families queuing to get into the Halloween event at Swizzels

Swizzels, the manufacturer of brands including Love Hearts, Drumsticks and Refreshers, welcomed trick-or-treaters to its factory for the first time ever on Thursday, October 14.

The factory building on Albion Road was turned a gruesome green for the evening as costumed visitors arrived from across the High Peak and beyond.

Families toured the grounds and enjoy horror-themed games and prop displays, before descending to the dark depths of the shop floor to fill up goodie bags with help from company staff.

Claire Lee, senior brand manager at Swizzels, said: “We love Halloween and wanted to celebrate it bigger and better than ever before, as we know people missed out last year.

“It was a first for us to be able to welcome local people to the factory and the perfect way for us to give back and thank them for the support over the past 18 months. We hope we were able to get people into the spirit of the season. Happy Halloween.”

Swizzels is the UK’s largest family-owned independent sugar confectionery business and one of the few in the industry to still manufacture sweets in the UK.

It has been based in New Mills since 1940, when the Blitz forced the company to leave London. Today it is the largest employer in the local area, with the majority of its 600 employees living nearby.

The company is currently running a competition for the finders of five Golden Love Hearts rolls to win a VIP factory tour. See facebook.com/SwizzelsMatlow for details.