The nation's favourite sweets have been put on the map - literally.
A unique art project commissioned by Taveners Proper Sweets has produced a map of Great Britain made entirely out of tasty treats. The Sweet Map of the UK is a representation of regional confectionery tastes across the country.
Created by Paul Baker of 3D Studios, the impressive two metre long map is made from 4,000 sweets and took three weeks to make. It features national landmarks crafted from confectionery including Tower Bridge, Hadrian’s Wall, The Angel of the North, Stonehenge, Silverstone and even the Loch Ness Monster.
The map is based on a survey of 1,500 people and shows that liquorice allsorts and wine gums combined are the nation’s favourite sweets. Closely following in third position are jelly babies.
Taveners decided to commission the map to graphically illustrate how confectionery preferences vary across the country.
Regionally, tastes vary significantly. People in the East of England rate chocolate caramels as their top treat. Scots also put chocolate caramels at number one, but they share this position with liquorice, both gaining 12 per cent of the vote.
Confectionery fans in the South East of England put liquorice in the top spot, giving it 11 per cent of their vote.
In London and the Midlands, jelly babies are the favourite, but in the North West, South West and Yorkshire, wine gums are king. Northern Ireland puts liquorice allsorts as their number one with more than three in 10 people choosing them as their favourite sweet.
Bucking the trend is the North East, rating bon-bons as their best loved confectionery with 11 per cent of people opting for them. The Welsh are partial to mint humbugs and fruit pastilles with 13 per cent of people questioned giving them the thumbs up.
Taveners brand manager Sarah Brown said : While this is intended to be a fun art project, there is a serious point. The map shows that traditional sweets are still hugely popular. Simple favourites such as liquorice allsorts and jelly babies have really stood the test of time.
The Taveners range offers the most comprehensive selection of sweet-shop confectionery to cater for the nation’s sweet tooth. Comforting and familiar, Taveners are proper sweets, just like they used to be.
The UK confectionery market is worth £3.8bn with people in the UK annually spending more on sweets than on tea or biscuits. Taveners Proper Sweets have a brand heritage stretching over 100 years. The range has been recently extended to incorporate other traditional favourites such as toasted teacakes and coconut mushrooms.