Swizzels Matlow is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

-based traditional confectionery

Confectionery

Confectionery is the set of food items that are rich in sugar, any one or type of which is called a confection. Modern usage may include substances rich in artificial sweeteners as well...

 manufacturer.

Their best known sweets include Love Hearts, Double Lollies, Drumsticks, Refreshers (not to be confused with the fizzy sweets made by Barratt), Fizzers and Parma Violets

Parma Violets

Parma Violets are a British violet-flavoured tablet confectionery manufactured by the Derbyshire company Swizzels Matlow. The sweets are hard, biconcave disc-shaped sweets, similar to the Fizzers product from the same company but without their fizziness...

. Its products are often seen as national treasures with their traditional style sweets being household names within the UK.

History

The company began as Matlow Bros. Ltd in a small factory in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 in 1928 by Alf and Maurice Matlow. In 1933, they formed Swizzels Limited along with David Dee.

In 1940, The Blitz

The Blitz

The Blitz was the sustained strategic bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, during the Second World War. The city of London was bombed by the Luftwaffe for 76 consecutive nights and many towns and cities across the country followed...

 forced their business to relocate northwards to New Mills

New Mills

New Mills is a town in Derbyshire, England approximately south-east of Stockport and from Manchester. It is sited at the confluence of the rivers Goyt and Sett, on the border of Cheshire. The town stands above the Torrs, a deep gorge, cut through Woodhead Hill Sandstone of the Carboniferous period...

, Derbyshire, where it remains. Later, in 1975, they adopted their current title Swizzels Matlow Ltd.

Love Hearts

Swizzels Matlow Ltd.'s most popular product is Love Hearts

Love Hearts

Love Hearts are a type of confectionery manufactured by Swizzels Matlow in the United Kingdom. They are hard, fizzy, tablet-shaped sweets in a variety of fruit flavours featuring a short, love-related message on one side of the sweet....

. These are small, hard, round sweets upon which short love related messages or chat-up lines are printed.

This product has far surpassed being simply a sweet, and is now an iconic symbol with its own website and product range. Almost any variation you can imagine on this theme is available including wedding favours, jewellery, personalised packets, corporate gifts, and home products.

Parma Violets

Parma Violets

Parma Violets

Parma Violets are a British violet-flavoured tablet confectionery manufactured by the Derbyshire company Swizzels Matlow. The sweets are hard, biconcave disc-shaped sweets, similar to the Fizzers product from the same company but without their fizziness...

are hard, biconcave disc-shaped sweets, similar to the Fizzers product from the same company, but without their fizziness. Swizzels Matlow have also released a line of Giant Parma Violets.

Others

Products include:

• Mr Chew
• Double Lollies
• Drum Sticks
• Fizzers
• Fruity Pops
• Fun Gums
• Rainbow Drops
• Refreshers