Meeting Friday 12 September 2025 with NICI MATLOW, HR Director, Swizzels Matlow Ltd, New Mills.
Our first session after the summer break, with the sun streaming in at the windows.. Reminder! If you would like to play golf at Disley Golf Club after our breakfast meetings, it’s only £15 per session during the week. Can’t ask for a better bargain.
And our guest took many of us back to our childhoods, when 1d meant “a penny” which could buy a treat from the local sweetshop on the way home from school. Odds were, that treat was made by Swizzels Matlow, who will shortly be celebrating their 100th anniversary.
That alone is food for thought. This family-owned business, one of the largest in the UK, has weathered two world wars, multiple governments, changing habits and fashions over many decades. This year its turnover should top £100 million. And it’s thriving, expanding, investing, and seeking big new export markets. Many lessons there for us in how they’ve done it.
Nici is the third generation to be helping to run the business. Her responsibility is HR and she was clearly proud of her workforce, with over 600 people directly employed in New Mills and the new factory in Middlewich opened in 2023. These people do more than operate machinery; they are often the test bed for any new sweet ideas dreamed up by the research lab and the engineers. Such is company loyalty that many stay for decades, even their whole working lives. One chap, Barry Land retired recently after 50 years’ service; he started straight from school, sweeping floors in the sugar area, and ended as Unit Manager making sherbet. “We made quite a party for him,” Nici smiled, “And now we’ve got half a dozen coming up to their 50th, so we’re wondering quite what to do for them!”
All a long way from the first street stall set up in the east end of London by brothers Alf and Maurice Matlow (Maurice was Nici’s grandfather), making jelly sweets and experimenting with what sells. Then in 1933 they joined forces with David Dee to create Swizzels Ltd, making fizzy confectionary. The two companies expanded through the thirties, with famous lines such as Rainbow Drops and Fizzers, made by compressing the sherbert as much as 6 tons at a time (though wrapped by hand until machinery caught up). Always low priced, always aimed at children.
By 1939 as war broke out and bombing started it was obvious that they could be in the firing line. So they headed north and sought a new location. An old cotton mill at New Mills built in the 1850s, which had been reused to make miners’ lamp wicks, was by then derelict; Nici played a wonderful old clip from Pathé News showing workmen up ladders busily reglazing the broken windows. Heavy equipment was hauled up from London along with key workers; hundreds of locals were recruited and quickly trained; and sweet production continued. Sugar rationing paradoxically led to growth as many other small companies were bought up along with their rationing allowance. That also meant a greater variety of sweets could be tried, though to save fuel they could only be sold within a 60 mile radius. In addition they made water purification tablets using their fizzing technology, doing their bit for the war effort.
The original plan was a temporary move, but by the 1950s the company had put down roots and the next generation were joining the business. Parma Violets, introduced in 1946, were aimed at freshening the breath of smokers, but I recall them being in every lady’s handbag – and they became what we’d now call a meme, with everything flavoured with them including gin and cheese. Love Hearts arrived in 1954 and are still hugely popular, with mottos for contemporary events from Royal Births and Weddings to the Olympics. The production method with the embossed messages and edible ink remains a company secret.. “We have to be careful with mottos,” Nici added. “We tried “Drop Dead!” once – meaning Drop Dead Gorgeous – until one man offered them to his mother-in-law…” That caused quite a row, emphasizing that sweets aimed at children have boundaries.
Love Hearts are still going strong with around 7 billion sold each year. A special edition was commissioned when Princess Diana paid a memorable visit in 1991. They’ve been used to make a wedding dress, valued at £125,000; there’s an edition with slogans chosen by 1 Direction fans; the Kind Hearts version raises money for the Mind charity; you can now get them with emojis; and indeed the factory itself is a source of romance, as so many employees have found their life partners there.
A large area behind the factory was taken over and an extension built in 1971. And soon they won the Queen’s Award for Export. The inventiveness of both labs and marketing are amazing. Lucky Strike weren’t cigarettes, but were mints with the names of football teams; adverts encouraged customers to eat them as they were doing the Pools and one lucky winner credited his success to them. A relationship with the Football Association led to “Soccer Shields” sweets with club badges inside. And lollies took off, big time (especially with Kojak – if you know, you know). For those, the machinery was so heavy it must be on the ground floor.
Nici herself joined the firm in 1999, the third generation, followed soon after by directors from the Dee family. The business went online. And Squashies were developed, now the company’s most successful line. That meant a whole new factory on a clean site in Middlewich, where automation and modern machinery meant that “the whole of one line is managed by 6 people,” Nici said in wonder. That helps keep costs under control. The technical wizardry to fill Variety bags exactly the same each time is mind-blowing – last year the billionth bag was sold. But they do not make anyone redundant, instead taking advantage of natural retirement and retraining their workforce to upgrade their skills.
Yes, there are failures, “But we learn from each failure,” Nici said. They’ve tried wonderful adult confectionery such as chocolate brazils, but when buyers asked what other lines they had for adults, it was decided to concentrate on children’s low-cost sweets, where Swizzels have market leadership. Competing against international giants who can be aggressive in their pricing strategies means being choosey and constantly innovating.
And the future? They’re looking to expand export, as 75% of production is still sold in the UK. An exciting opportunity has just opened in South Korea, for example. To me, that seems a sensible development, as a single shipping container could take a lot of sweets. Everything is done in-house wherever possible, including designing and marketing. That way various ideas can be tested and moved quickly. They’re now working at pace to reduce the amount of sugar in the product as new regulations come into effect insisting that “unhealthy” foods are sold only on high shelves, not where children could choose them. That could be an existential risk.
We got the impression of a big company run with love and commitment, whose workforce responds in kind. And knowing what the public like, trust and enjoy is an essential part of the mix. We finished by raffling off a box of sweets which Nici had kindly brought with her; one lucky family will be enjoying Refreshers and other goodies this weekend. A wonderful talk, a real eye-opener, and a fine local business.