Woking's New Sweet Gallery Opens in Church Path

Woking has a new gem in The Sweet Gallery which was opened on Saturday 2 July by Eagle Radio's Peter Gordon.

Proprietors Debbie and Paul Kennedy from Chobham, opened the business after Paul's redundancy from 25 years in the Police working in child protection.

'Paul and I sat down in October 2010 and discussed what we'd like to do, we wanted our own business and looked at the things we liked. It was a choice between wine or sweets and in the end, sweets won! We researched the market and saw the popularity of brands such as Hope and Greenwood, and then, 4 weeks ago on Friday we picked up the keys to our new venture. We are open 10-6pm Monday to Saturday and 11-4pm on Sundays, and will look to reflect what shoppers want, as well as offering a service to corporate functions and weddings, we look forward to seeing families come in and choose sweets together, or commuters buying a lovely treat on the way home'

Having seen the resurgence in the old style local shop that seems to reflect a time when people looked for simple pleasures as their treat as well as national magazines and glossy Sunday supplements hailing the return of the old fashioned sweet,  it seems that Paul and Debbie have tapped into the current feeling that whilst belts are tightening something that can give people that everyday treat is never a bad thing, either to the children who amongst the packets and 'pile 'em high' attitude in large supermarkets have never experienced carefully choosing their weekly treat, to the tired parents and commuters who, on just walking into the shop are transported back to a simpler and safer time when the most complicated decision was a quarter of sherbert pips or cola cubes.

On the opening day it was the looks on the faces of the parents, not just the children that told how welcome such a business is in the town and here's to their ongoing success!