I tried chocolates from the store that used to have shops on every high street

Chocolates are generally safe bets when it comes to gifting. For decades, Thorntons has been at the heart of many special occasions. In my eyes, when I was growing up, Milk Tray was decent, but Thorntons was the real luxury.

And when I had a little one of my own, we would often venture to one of its many shops for a sweet treat after a visit to the museum. The Thorntons' story is a familiar one, a sweet shop opened in 1911 and became so popular it expanded. At first, Norman Thornton sold sweets in his Sheffield store before eyeing up the cocoa bean after taking on his brother Stanley.



The Thornton brothers, sons of travelling confectioner Joseph Thornton, began crafting their own handmade truffles and fondant in the 1920s, and now the company has produced a century of chocolate delights. From milestones like their signature toffee recipe taking more than 50 attempts to get right to the late Queen opening the Thornton Park factory in Alfreton, Derbyshire, in 1985, Thorntons is a well-loved brand. It even had more than 300 shops up and down the UK, until the chocolate company started reporting trading difficulties in 2009 and the impact was felt in 2011 when Thorntons announced it would close up to 180 stores.

Even though Thorntons was bought by the Ferrero Group in 2015, it was the Covid lockdown a few years later that closed the remaining shops for good, with Thorntons announcing in 2021 they would not reopen . But they have continued to keep an online store and supply to all the leading supermarkets, and tasting their chocolate, it was better than I remember. I got to try the Thorntons Classic box and the Thorntons Continental box, which I had thought would be very sweet.

I know chocolate is going to be sweet, but sometimes it can have so much sugar it is just unpleasant, this is not the case with Thorntons. Some of the new flavours in the Classic box, the fudge brownie and the heavenly honeycomb, are great additions, with the gooey caramel and creamy fudge moreish crowd pleasers and the strawberries and cream white chocolate truffle show a diversification I approve of. The Continental box feels a little more sophisticated with a rich amaretti crisp, a zesty Sicilian mousse and perfectly nutty Alpini praline, which was my favourite.

The looked good in the box and the sleek classy designs do make them feel special. I was impressed that both boxes had a good variety. They are not the most luxurious chocolates I have ever had, Hotel Chocolat being a favourite of mine, but given that they are currently on offer at £8.

98 for the Classic 449g box and £7.48 for the 464g Continental box at Asda , Tesco, Amazon (Continental is £6.65 on Amazon ) and other supermarkets, they are a bargain.

And perfect for Mother's Day coming up on Sunday. I would be very happy with these come Sunday morning..