It has been five years since we welcomed the Thorntons franchise into our shop and we changed our name to Tip Top Balloons & Thorntons.
We pride ourselves in offering our customers great local service from a privately owned independent shop and proud to be associated with a premium brand such as Thorntons.
So whether you need personalised wedding favours, a gift for someone special or just a little treat for yourself…Thorntons offer luxury at affordable prices.
Making delicious chocolates for over 100 years
Can you believe it’s been over 100 years since Joseph
William Thornton opened his little chocolate shop on
Norfolk Street in Sheffield in 1911. He was a travelling
confectioner at the time, which sounds like a great job
but it can’t beat owning your own chocolate shop can it!
Saying that Joseph actually kept his job and handed the
keys over to his eldest son Norman, who was just 14 at the
time, and he told him to ‘make it the best sweet shop in
town’. Surely that must be the best job in the world for a
teenager and he really was like a big kid in a sweet shop.
He didn’t do a bad job either as within two years Joseph
opened another shop in Sheffield and it just kept on
growing from there and it’s been growing ever since.
Thorntons Special Toffee
Over the next few years, Norman’s brother Stanley joined
him to run the shops in Sheffield and Thorntons got a bit
of a name for itself. The boys created a lovely rich and
chewy ‘special’ toffee, that became so popular all the city’s
steelworkers ate it. And you know what, our Special Toffee
today is still based on that same recipe.
Just after the Second World War, one of the best
chocolatiers in Europe, Walter Willen came to work with us,
and he brought with him some of Europe’s best soft-centred
chocolates and created our now famous Continental
collection.
3,500 chocolate lovers work in Thornton Stores
Today, we call Alfreton in Derbyshire our home after we
moved our chocolate factory here in the mid 80s. There are
now over 3,500 chocolate lovers who work in our stores,
our factory and our head office and we’re really proud to
be one of the best-loved and oldest names on the high
street. But we haven’t forgotten our roots. We still make our
extra special toffee and we’re still famous for our delicious
Continentals. Over the years we’ve created lots of other
wonderful chocolates too and we will continue to create
those delicious teats to make everyone smile for many
more years to come.
