The Sweetness of Lemon's

'You cannot eat a better sweet'. So ran the slogan for Lemon's Pure Sweets, immortalised by James Joyce in Ulysses, and a vital part of Dublin's social fabric for over a century. Set up by Armagh native Graham Lemon, the brand soon became a household name in Ireland and beyond. Famous for the use of safe, natural ingredients, the sweets were said to be favourites of such illustrious personages as Queen Victoria and Pope Leo XIII. Lemon's shop on O'Connell Street, The Confectioner's Hall, was a mecca for generations of Irish children, and its window displays at Christmas time were as famous as those of Switzer's on Grafton Street. This nostalgic look back at the story of Lemon's charts the highs and lows of the company, from its heyday to its eventual demise when free trade and increased competition led its Drumcondra factory to close its doors for good in 1983. Yet even today the iconic name lingers on with tins of Season's Greetings at Christmas and in the sweet memories it still evokes among the people of Dublin and Ireland.