How a traditional UK sweet factory is enjoying a global sugar rush

A machine automatically bagging freshly-made Grays Herbal Tablets. Photos: Oli Scarff/AFP

Edward Gray sweet factory in central England evokes a bygone age where brass cauldrons steam with molten sugar and workers wrestle with huge chunks of gooey treacle, but its handmade produce now enjoys a global demand.

The company – also known as Teddy Grays – dates back to 1826 when John Gray went house-to-house in a horse and cart buying homemade sweets before selling them to retailers.But it was his son Edward, an entrepreneur in the mould of Willy Wonka and Colonel Sanders, who built the business' name.