Jelly Babies crowned UK’s favourite sweet as top ten revealed

Jelly Babies have been crowned the nation’s favourite sweet, according to a new survey.

The cute little retro tots beat the likes of Wine Gums, Drumstick lollies, Love Hearts and Cola Bottles to the top spot.

The survey, conducted by research agency, Perspectus Global found that the sugary delights, made with a firm shell and soft centre and invented 160 years ago, still proved they were going strong even against new competition.

Firm favourites in the hearts of the nation, Jelly Babies were closely followed by Fruit Pastilles in second place with 62% of the vote, and Wine Gums in third with 60%.

Jelly Babies were first manufactured in Lancashire in the nineteenth century. But their popularity began to wane before being revived by Bassett’s, in Yorkshire.

Bassett’s began mass-producing the sweets as ‘Peace Babies’ in 1918 but then later reverted back to calling them Jelly Babies, as we all know and love them today.

Other popular choices included Cola Bottles, creamy Werther’s Originals, rainbow coloured Skittles and mouthwateringly fruity Starburst.

But surprisingly, oldies but goldies including Black Jacks, Drumstick Lollies as well as its modern-day partner the Drumstick Squashie, didn’t perform quite as well as some might expect.

The tongue colour-changing Black Jacks came in at 21 with 52%, and Drumstick Lollies and Squashies got 51% of the vote.

And the inter-galactic retro Flying Saucers, crash landed at 29 on the list with 49% of the vote. 

But the survey also revealed that not only do Brits love a sugary, fruity and tangy sweet, they also love a minty one too as Polos, Tic Tacs and Mentos all made it on the list as fan favourites. 

Of the 2,000 polled, 78% said there was something magical about enjoying your favourite childhood sweets, 77% admitted they would rather have sweets for dessert than a pudding and 70% prefer sweets over chocolate.

On average, Brits chomp through around 19 sweets a week – which is not great news for our teeth.

The UK’s 30 favourite sweets, according to the survey, are as follows:

1. Jelly Babies 65%
2. Fruit Pastilles 62%
3. Wine Gums 60%
4. Cola Bottles 59%
5. Werther’s Originals 59%
6. Skittles 58%
7. Starburst 57%
8. Liquorice Allsorts 57%
9. Tangfastics 57%
10. Rhubarb and custards 56%
11. Jelly Tots 56%
12. Fruit Gums 55%
13. Love Hearts 54%
14. Dolly Mix 53%
15. Lemon Sherberts 53%
16. Pear Drops 53%
17. Turkish Delight 52%
18. Maoam Stripes 52%
19. Kola cubes 52%
20. Daim bars (formerly Dime) 52%
21. Black Jacks 52%
22. Toffee Bonbons 52%
23. Tunnocks Snowballs 51%
24. Drumstick Squashies 51%
25. Drumstick Lollies 51%
26. Polos 50%
27. Fruit-tella 50%
28. Tic Tacs 50%
29. Flying saucers 49%
30. Mentos 45%

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