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The Sweet Story of Hancocks
More than six decades ago, Ray and Liz Hancock saw an opportunity. They filled their humble sweetshop with as many sweets as they could and started their wholesale journey. Fast forward to today and Hancocks is the UK’s largest confectionery wholesaler, home to the widest range of bulk pick n mix sweets, a state-of-the-art digital shopping experience and 14 immersive wholesale stores across the country.
The sweet-mad Hancocks ran a sweetshop in Shepshed, a small town in Leicestershire, which served sweet-toothed locals and put smiles on faces that passed through. However, in 1962, they had an idea that changed their business forever. Having noticed the demand for top-quality, delicious bulk sweets and chocolate, they filled their shop with as much stock as they could and began wholesaling. Within a year their modest shop could no longer cope with the demand and in 1963 operations moved to the first Hancocks warehouse in nearby Loughborough.
There was no slowing down, with the second Hancocks depot opening in Sheffield in 1969 and then Loughborough upsizing again a year after! Wherever the Hancocks footprint grew, success followed. Not only success but innovation, too. This theme has continued throughout the decades and is how Hancocks evolved into the UK’s largest confectionery wholesaler.
Today, our network of 14 wholesale stores serves the whole of the UK, with each providing an exceptional shopping experience. Immersive and informative, with easy-to-find stock and confectionery experts on hand, each of our stores ensures that every customer makes the most of their visit.
We proudly serve a breadth of business types with the most desirable wholesale sweets, chocolate, bulk drinks, and much, much more. Our customers range from specialist sweet shops to online re-packers, caterers and event planners, supermarkets and market traders, leisure vendors and cinemas – the list could go on. And on… and on…
Over the years, we have not only fostered relationships with our customers but with the world’s largest and most innovative manufacturers and brands, too. More than 250, in fact - hence our jaw-dropping range! You’ll find everything from sweets to chocolate, crisps to biscuits, energy drinks to water, and a whole host of seasonal lines throughout the year.
Proudly home to the UK’s largest selection of wholesale pick n mix sweets, you’ll find the most iconic lines from the biggest names, such as Haribo, Barratt, and our very own Kingsway right here at Hancocks. That’s right, the iconic Kingsway brand is ours – and it’s been with us since 1962!
There are other brands that we proudly call our own, too. Bonds offers sweet-making heritage and nostalgia; Crazy Candy Factory provides jaw-dropping novelty; and Candy Realms brings delicious sweets from four playful worlds.
Across all of our ranges of bulk chocolate, sweets, and drinks, we stock the biggest names in the business – from Cadbury and Lindt chocolate to Swizzels and Candy Kittens, Coca-Cola to Sneak Energy drinks, you can find them all in bulk at Hancocks. Our team of experts also help to curate our specialist ranges. These include baking toppings and supplies, American favourites and chocolate, and the Healthier at Hancocks range.
Here at Hancocks, we’re proud to offer our shoppers multiple ways to shop our amazing range. From the immersive in-store shopping experience to enjoying the best digital wholesale shopping experience through our website, or the seamless Click & Collect procedure, we make sure that our customers can shop their way.
Over the decades, a lot has changed in the world of Hancocks. But the most important thing remains – we live and breathe confectionery. From nostalgic pick n mix sweets to chocolate, international favourites and everything else, it is our goal to provide Britain’s independent businesses and retailers with the best stock possible to spread the joy of confectionery in their own way.