This is a curious place which is quite popular among the youngsters in London, as I heard recently. You can be sure of it - they have the right to love it! However, no actual ice-cream for my unfortunate soul, was on sale during this late-winter time at this place.
Kingdom of Sweets is a British chain. One of the biggest sellers of different sweets from all around the World. Their stores are often crowdy, noisy and full of joy. Almost like the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. You will definitely find something you can vomit from as well. Okay, let's be honest, this is the muggle equivalent of that shop!
Souvenirs other than chocolate will be extremely hard to be found here for sure.
I have bumped into a smaller
Kingdom of Sweets, back in 2012 and it was a pleasant surprise to see that they grew up to at least 5 London stores this year. And a few more outside London. Decided to pay a visit to the one at Piccadilly Circus earlier this year after the adventures at
M&M's World, same day. (the article can be found
here, if you need to see what that place is about) Brought my goddaughter (age 11 with me with the only intention to stop me if trying to buy too many sweets. Assume you already know what happened.
Source: Personal Archive, view from the middle of the shop to the inside section. You can see the cash desk and rest is ... sweets, literally Your first impression of the place is - crowd. It is there, indeed. You have the right to enjoy this experience on the entrance. The inside section of this place is good, on the other hand. Visitors can navigate free, with no obstacles. Even the entrance is wheelchair friendly, if you need that information too. The left side of the entrance wall had sweets imported from the US, like Oreos (many different flavors, like ice cream, mint, KitKat - I think, peach and many more), KitKat (of course), marshmallow jars, cotton candy boxes, Twinkies, you name it. I didn't know where to look. Middle of the entrance section had a large table with tins full of gummy bears, marshmallow meters basically everything we would want to put in a paper bag and pay for. The right wall was the trickiest for prankster souls to resist. I laughed a lot at the blood bank jiuce ideas, popping candy eyes, candy teeth and many other ridiculous stuff, typical for the British market. Most of them were available in other countries as well.
The middle section of this shop was well organized in Asian sweets section, where KitKat with wasabi or melon taste were to be found.
Source: Personal Archive, KitKat flavors from the Japanese section at Kingdom of Sweets. Here's to mention, this is just a small part of the display Corn cones from USA were randomly placed and 'science lab' tubes full of sour candies were placed at the same section, alongside tins full of chocolate candies. Christmas and St Valenties were long gone, however, visitors are still able to get some of those typical gingerbread cookies, candy canes and heart-shaped boxes of chocolate (last ones I absolutely hate but that's personal opinion). One of my bosses allowed a last minute week off work, so I wanted to say 'thank you' buying them a chocolate surprise. I have to be honest, I didn't expect to find a chocolate with the actual phrase 'thank you' on it.Well, I even bought 3! In case you wonder, it will be possible to find many other sayings at the package for just a pound or pound fifty.
The national favorites - chocolates and candy boxes with the British royal family had a proper section which 'somehow' most of the international visitors skipped. A bit sad but life is tough. ?
What most Americans were literally excited about was the Kinder section where all chocolate eggs with a toy on the inside were placed. My brief observation of their sweets market has shown me that these are illegal around the US which explained that small crowd, I guess.
There was a second floor of that place which during my visit was still closed but I assume most of the literally plugged goods were to be moved there for better display. So, i just passed by the plate saying 'Don't Enter'. In the meantime, my goddaughter was jumping around with a small bottle of grape soda and a few more drinks with strange Japanese signs which did not initially seem suspicious. Having a lot of allergies could cause you a small nightmare around this place, however, life is short, so why don't you try something from everything?! This is one of the very few places in London where people can feel free to buy something with no fear of chemicals. I even followed my goddaughter's advise to buy a tube full of extra sour candies. Didn't know what to expect at that time, so just suggested that's her revenge when I earlier forbid the box of thousand M&M's. (later, at home, i understood what revenge taste like! It's horrible. No matter what you do, wherever you go, don't try the warheads and most important - the Radioactive Sours! There literally are ... radioactive. I had a blast of toxic taste in my mouth while having a taste. In the meantime, the little 11yo creature was laughing at my face)
As a Potter head, I was absolutely stunned to see my favorite Every Flavor Beans, chocolate frogs, chocolate wands, Hogwarts crest badges and more Wizarding World sweets at a special display, well organized and more important - not touched by anyone at that very moment of the day. It's not an official sweets selling location of the production like
Platform 9 3/4 and the
Warner Bros. Studio Tour but still, you can find some of their best candies right here. (a short spoiler from my walks around the Tour can be found
here) Just like the extension of magic the
House of MinaLima studio, I have
recently introduced to you, that it could be.
Whenever at the cash desk, please, remember to smile and be polite with the guys. They are extremely helpful, friendly and would even suggest you help remembering your pin code. Not that their help will do but, I had great time. Here's the moment where I am confirming - both cash and card payments are accepted and prices for most of the items are friendly, just like the people working at the Kingdom of Sweets.
You will find bubble gums and many fresh mints at the desk which, you shouldn't miss. I bought myself a TicTac box with minions - yellow tictacs with minion faces and banana taste. Or banana with sugar, if you ask me ?
After describing just a small percentage of the wide menagerie of this so-called Kingdom, I am curious to know if there are other lucky appreciators who had a visit here and what your impressions are? Everyone, what's your favorite sweet and what's the most on-traditional chocolate flavor you had or have seen? The KitKat Wasabi is my personal shocker ... after the toxic candy, tho'!
2022
