From the outside, Cocoa looks like a pretty little sweet shop, or perhaps that should be spice shop. (Native Sheffielders generally refer to sweets as spice – at least Mr TLC always does.)
Inside, the shop reminds me somewhat of the tiny shops that I loved as a child: a long counter behind which are rows and rows of jars of every type of sweet imaginable. You can choose from aniseed balls, vanilla fudge, chocolate raisins, rainbow drops, wine gums, licorice roots or pretty much any other type of confectionery you can imagine. If that’s not enough, then you can choose from the many beautiful chocolates on display.
Of course the sweet shops I visited as a child weren’t quite like this: they had long wooden counters, not sparkling glass display cases. Neither did they have beautiful wallpaper or a gorgeous back room filled with people sipping cups of tea and eating chocolates, but it’s these things that help to give Cocoa it’s slightly enchanted atmosphere.
I may not be a child any more, but I still find a little bit of magic in visiting a sweet shop on a Saturday morning.