One of Wigan's newest businesses is teaming up with one of the oldest for a novel new taste of summer.
And the way the Uncle Joe's Mint Ball-flavoured milkshakes are flying off the shelves at Mucho Cocoa, the Grand Arcade shop could be really onto something!
Bosses of the William Santus company have given their full blessing to store boss Matt Pennin
gton to pulverise their famous sweets for blending with milk and ice cream.
It is one of a number of unusual new tastes introduced by the confectioner who is plundering his broad range of bonbons for recipes.
Matt said: "The Uncle Joe's milkshakes have gone down particularly well with some people remarking that they taste quite like Baileys!
"I had bought a powerful blender so I could make fruit smoothies but then the idea struck me that I could branch out into other areas so I started experimenting with some of the 60 sweets we have in store.
"Not all of them work – for instance the gobstopper milkshake – but some have proved to be very nice and popular with customers. Sherbert is another one.
"I contacted Santuses and they were happy to let me use the sweets."
Uncle Joe's co-director John Winnard said: "It sounds like a great idea and we are happy to endorse the product which is good for both companies and for the profile of Wigan. We were flattered to be considered.
"It is not the first time our sweets have ended up in unexpected places of course. Uncle Joe's are now a popular flavour in Mrs Dowson's ice cream range."
And expatriate Wiganer Martin Kenrick was also surprised and delighted to discover a taste of home on a recent trip to New York.
Mr Kenrick, who now lives in London, said: "I am always impressed to find a fellow Wiganer and a recent trip to New York I was beside myself with joy to find a familiar face in the grocery store just a block or so from my hotel, none other than Uncle Joe himself!
"Faced with such a discovery what more could I be expected to do than buy a packet of my faithful friends (I did also have a personal stash with me) for the princely sum of $2.99.
"The packet is now safe and sound in my flat in London but I think it'd be only right for me to return them to their rightful home next time I'm in town."
A Santus spokesman confirmed that Uncle Joe's do have fans among US shoppers with sales across the Atlantic quite encouraging.
The full article contains 438 words and appears in Wigan Observer newspaper.
