Grade II Listed: HE Record
Listing includes 2 and 4 Clayport Street.
Before they moved to Narrowgate this building was once a Dick’s Shoe Shop.
Vose’s was the first sweet shop here. The corner on which it stood was known as Vose’s corner. Vose’s confectionery was manufactured in Newcastle.
In 1898 John Vose sold the business to Charles Riley and Tom Maynard who formed the Maynard Company. The shop became Maynard’s, and the corner was then known as Maynard’s corner.
Maynard’s factory produced a range of popular boiled sweets such as Acid Drops, Black Bullets, Brazils, Cloves, Pear Drops, Humbugs, Aniseed Balls, and Rock.
Maynard’s Wine Gums were introduced in 1909 by Maynard’s son, Charles Gordon Maynard. The story goes that Maynard Sr. was close to firing his son when he invented the concept of wine gums. It took a long time and much perseverance to persuade his father, a conservative Christian, that no wine was used in making the jellies.
The factory ceased production in the late 1950s. The retail shops were sold off in 1985.
The shop is now the Chocolate Spa.