A. Talbot & Sons manufactured sweets for many years in a factory with a landmark chimney which was originally a rag mill. The company originated in 1890, selling wholesale groceries from a horse-drawn vehicle, but moved into boiled sweet manufacture when its sweet supplier, John Kay of Flushdyke, retired and gave it his recipes. The company's humbugs, mint imperials, toffees and Yorkshire mixtures became popular throughout Yorkshire and further afield. The Talbots ran the business until the mid-1960s, when it was sold to Victory V lozenges.