Nostalgia pays, so it is said. And for a long-established Bradford confectionery wholesaler that adage is certainly true as its business continues to expand well beyond these shores.

FW Bishop & Son, based at Ripley Street, West Bowling, supplies a wide variety of sweets and confectionery – including many traditional lines – still popular with customers across Yorkshire and which are increasingly providing a taste of home to expats on the far side of the world.

Bishops, part of the M&M Group – soon to be renamed Kitwave group – also supplies a range of groceries, soft drinks, alcohol and tobacco products to customers, including local independent shop keepers, who central to the current day £27 million turnover Bradford business.

A walk along the racks of the purpose-built 30,000 sq ft Ripley Street base is like a stroll down memory lane. Shelf after shelf containing the taste of childhood – sherbet lemons, coltsfoot rock, mint humbugs, sarsaparilla drops, jelly beans, Swizzels lollies, flying saucers, white mice, cinder toffee, barley sugar and Bottomleys mint rock.

And the list goes on – from pear drops, treacle toffee, Pontefract cakes, aniseed balls, chocolate limes, sherbet dips in numerous flavours and mint imperials to Yorkshire Mixture.

Many of these products were in vogue when Bishops started 80 years ago in Leeds Road and remain the backbone of the business.

When the business began in 1923 retailing was still dominated by local general stores, newsagents, off-licences and tobacconists with supermarkets not even thought of.

Now, independent retailers are up against it as the supermarkets bulk buy and slash prices in a cut-throat market.

Jay Mackay, Bishops group operations director, who has nearly 30 years’ experience in the wholesale business, including with the sector’s leading operator, Booker, said the trading climate was now tougher than at any time he could remember.

He said: “Independent retailers are definitely up against it but they remain a key part of our business. A well-run shop providing personal service and a good choice of goods at the right price can still succeed “I definitely think that we are seeing a swing back to people shopping locally where they can and at Bishops we have taken initiatives to the independents to compete with the big boys.”

Bishops introduced its ‘Quidz in’ promotion to help small shopkeepers compete on price. It enables them to buy wholesale packages of goods to retail at £1 each, guaranteeing them a decent profit margin.

The scheme covers a range of goods, including sweets and chocolate, soft drinks and snacks, with the offers changing on a regular basis.

Mr Mackay said it meant that independent retailers could buy from Bishops at a cost which enabled them to attract customers in a price-driven marketplace “The more entrepreneurial of them will make the most of these promotions to boost wider sales and offer real competition to supermarkets.

“Business for small retailers is essentially based around impulse buying, news and chilled drinks. If you can meet that demand with the right range of products at the right price then you can succeed – and there is a gap in the market to be filled.

“We can help retailers create a unique selling point – USP – by supplying goods for special promotions to get people through their doors. The rest is up to them, with personal service a strong ingredient for success,” said Jay.

The ‘Quidz in’ scheme is going from strength-to-strength, with Bishops recently negotiating with the Post Office about offering local postmasters access to it.

Exports is another area on which Bishops is focusing with regular container loads of sweets going as far afield as Australia in particular.

“Down Under you have the second generation ex-pats who retain a taste of the old country and traditional sweets sell very well over there,” said Jay.

Bishops also has customers in New Zealand, Canada, South America, Africa and Europe. It has also sent goods to Afghanistan and Mr MacKay is looking at breaking into the South Korean market, which he describes as a “sleeping giant”.

“Overseas trade has continued to growth at a double digit level in recent years and now accounts for a reasonable proportion of our business. Expanding that trade is a key part of our strategy going forward,” said Jay.

Bishops has 30 staff, including several long-serving employees such as sales manager Steve Walsh and assistant manager Jayne Gill.

During their time at the firm it has taken over some long-standing brands such as former Keighley mint rock and boiled sweet producer Bottomleys and toffee-maker Waterhouses of Leeds – famous for its invalid toffee. Sweets bearing some of the old names are now made for Bishop’s in Yorkshire.

Bishops delivers to all areas of Yorkshire and operates alongside sister companies M & M Supplies in Newcastle, covering the North East and Turner & Wrights in Bolton, covering Lancashire.

One of Bishops local customers is Julie Simpson who opened her traditional sweet shop Sweet Memories at Bolton Junction four years ago after being made redundant from her insurance job.

Julie, of Bierley, took over a former craft shop and has steadily built up her business and continues to win new customers.

Sweet Memories sells bags of old-fashioned sweets weighed out from jars. Best sellers include midget gems and strawberry bon bons. Julie’s customers range from school children, who treat Sweet Memories as their local ‘tuck shop’, to pensioners.

Julie said: “I buy some of my sweets, including mint rock and Invalid toffee, from Bishops. The old-fashioned sweets continue to be popular and I often get people driving by and then stopping and coming in to ask for their favourites.

“I’ve managed to keep going and the shop is paying its way.”