It's a place scores of Mancs, especially those on the east side of the city, will have driven past at some point. Facing Ashburys train station on Pottery Lane in West Gorton, just around the corner from the Etihad Stadium, is Hancocks.
Yet very few outside the trade are likely to have been inside, and its light blue exterior and sign - simply saying 'wholesale' - gives little clue to the wonderland it houses.
Walking through its doors you are hit by the sights of thousands upon thousands of jars, packets, and boxes of sweets and chocolate, stacked up on shelves which stretch up almost as high as the ceiling.
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This is the region's largest confectionery wholesalers. A total of 5,000 different types of sweets, chocolate, and drinks are stocked here in the enormous 23,000-square-foot warehouse.
They are then supplied to shops across the region and beyond. Even on Coronation Street, who use Hancocks to stock up The Kabin and the corner shop.
Chances are, if you've had a pick n mix from a shop in Manchester, the sweets came from here.
Hancocks, this year celebrating its 60th anniversary, was set up in the Midlands in 1962 by Ray Hancock and his wife Elizabeth, who sold sweets wholesale from their small sweet shop in Shepshed near Loughborough.
They opened their Manchester cash and carry in 1976, starting life in Miles Platting, before moving to its current, bigger site in Gorton in 1981. It is one of 14 Hancocks cash and carries across the country.
Chris Griffiths, himself a Gorton lad who grew up near the monastery, has been with the company for a decade and has been running the Manchester operation for the past four years.
"It surprises me over the years how so many people haven't heard of us," Chris says. "Because we are the kings of confectionery. We carry about 5,000 lines. More than anyone else in the whole country.
"Anything you can think of, we stock it. It's a massive, massive range that goes right across the board, and it's what has made us successful, really above anyone else in confectionery.
"Everywhere in Manchester people have had sweets, they probably came from here. In fact, I can't think of anywhere I've been, whether it be down south, Wales, round here, wherever, where I haven't walked into a sweet shop or a convenience shop and saw something from Hancocks. It's always great to see.
"We get all your corner shops, all your market traders coming in," he continues. "All your leisure events you go to, all your fun fairs, we service all of them as well. You name it, we supply them."
"The customer loyalty to Hancocks as well is absolutely fantastic," he adds. "There are people who have traded with us for years. There are people who have traded with us from day dot, since we moved here 30 years ago, and are still doing so now, or their sons or daughters are."
The warehouse is normally reserved for business owners or those in the trade, though Chris says he can let people in on day passes if they, for example, have an event coming up, such as a wedding, and will be spending over £60.
The turnover of goods here is vast, with between eight and ten deliveries a day replenishing the bags and boxes taken away by business owners at the cash and carry, which Chris says is "continually busy."
When the M.E.N visits, pallets containing boxes, each with 48 Cadbury Flakes inside, sit on the floor of one of the rows ready to be shelved. On the other side are bags of chocolate money and casino chips.
Boxes of giant white mice and strawberry cables sit opposite boxes containing bags of Skittles and Haribo. Chris admits for someone with a sweet tooth it is "heaven" and jokes it is akin to the golden ticket winners first entering Willy Wonka's factory in the Roald Dahl classic, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
"Working here you get used to it a bit, it's like anything," he says "But it is amazing. "Sweets are an everyday treat and affordable as well. If you want to cheer your kids up or whatever, buy them a sweet. But they're not just for kids either, everyone enjoys them. They're not overly expensive and everyone can afford it."
He says they stock so many different products it would be impossible to narrow down the most popular item, but says his personal favourites are Maynards Wine Gums, Cadbury Chocolate Eclairs, and Kingsway's blue raspberry bonbons. Chris actually gave jars of those away as favours at his own wedding.
One area that has seen huge growth in the last four or five years, he says, is American sweets and drinks. Dubbing itself the 'Home of American candy' everything from Reece's Pieces, to Hershey's chocolate syrup, Warheads chew drops and Charleston bars are available here.
"That's grown massively over the past four of five years," Chris says. "People always like something different. And all the people who've been over to America in the previous years are saying 'oh you can get this over here now.'"
To mark the company's 60th anniversary they held a special event in the store, earlier this month, where customers got the chance to meet representatives from some of the brands and win some prizes.
“For any business to reach such an anniversary is a real milestone, but especially after the last two years and the changes we’ve all had to make to adapt to the challenges of the pandemic," Chris says.
"We’ve seen our customer base evolve during that period. We've seen lots of different businesses adding on confectionery for online sales and delivery options.
“More recently, our customers have told us that they’re looking for value for money and are passing that saving on to their customers."
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