Luxury chocolates were originally only accessible in the UK from continental manufacturers like https://www.barbara-luijckx.com/ and extremely occasionally you’d probably see unusual brands like Laura Secord from Canada. Chocoholics seeking chocolates that had been a bit different will have to search out for any local delicatessen or visit places like Selfridges or Harrods in London.
In the late seventies there were something of the revolution when holidaymakers returning off their continental breaks started ask for the delicious truffles and luxury praline chocolates they had eaten as they were on a break. Numerous small Belgian chocolate shops began to spring up all around the UK and lots of were run by well to accomplish ladies whose husbands funded their ‘hobby’ instead of part time work. The shops were often smaller – literally just big enough for just a chiller cabinet to keep the chocolates, some shelves to come up with boxes and standing room for only a few customers. They would carefully finish off small ‘ballotins’ of delicious handmade luxury Belgian chocolates, carefully bow it and maybe decorate it with silk flowers. The shops were often tucked within secondary positions which coupled with the high cost with the chocolates and low sales meant many of them failed after having a short time trading.
Some French and Belgian chocolate decoration manufacturer aimed to develop their sales by setting up shops in locations everywhere over the UK. Jeff de Brugges were an illustration, in Frances that they thousands of shops however in the UK they failed miserably to generate any headway. Even such household names as Godiva and Leonardis discovered that although they can develop good sales from the big London/Birmingham/Manchester stores they could not replicate this in small kiosks within the same way they did in Belgium.