While the lolly counter was, for us as kids, the most important section of any milkbar, it was not uncommon to find a lolly shelf or two in a greengrocer’s shop or newsagency. Lollies galore… lucky us!

In safer times, when I was around the age of six or seven, we’d walk to the shops on our own, giddy with excitement at the opportunity to select our own ‘food’ — how often did a kid get to do that? And oh what a yield we’d score with our 20 cents pocket money. The bag would be so big we could barely wrap our greedy fingers around it to stop our precious lollies falling out. If a grandparent gave us 50 cents on a special occasion, we were into serious haul quantities — that’s when the stock and trade would begin.

Later, when I was walking to and from school in a group, a couple of people would distract the shop owner while someone else filled their bag, adding in a few extra cobbers, lolly teeth or milk bottles. It was an honesty system back then, you see. Clearly there was good reason why that changed. The naughtier kids would steal a whole bag of chips or a chocolate bar or a packet of bubble gum — not mentioning any names again, Vanessa...

We all had our favourites (some of us can’t let go of them), and after polling many friends, family and colleagues I’ve included a collection of sweeties that should satisfy kids of all ages. If you’re a fan of toffee-covered nuts, mint-flavoured nougat chews, twists of liquorice, crunchy honeycomb or musk sticks then we have you covered.