For those of you unfamiliar with the Everton Mint, it is a black and white mint flavored confection with a delicious caramel center. Everton is also a district of Liverpool in the United Kingdom and the name and home of a famous English football team; Everton FC Now in the late 1800s there was a sweet shop called ‘Ye Anciente Everton Toffee House’ that was owned by a lady named Old Ma Bushell. ‘Ye Anciente Everton Toffee House’ was located near the Queen’s Head Hotel in Everton. Old Ma Bushell created a candy that he called Everton Toffee that he sold to people on their way to watch Everton FC play their soccer games; This turned out to be a huge success and popular with Everton FC fans.
Unfortunately for Old Ma Bushell, Everton FC moved to a different football stadium called Goodison Park. Goodison Park was located very close to another sweet shop called ‘Mother Noblett’s Toffee Shop’. Mother Noblett realized that she had a lucrative opportunity to sell her toffee to Everton FC fans just as Old Ma Bushell had done, however she could not use the Everton Toffee name because Old Ma Bushell had already patented it. To overcome the problem, Mother Noblett invented a candy that was a peppermint on the outside but with her candy in the middle and called it ‘Everton Mint’. Mother Noblett also had the idea to make her Everton Mints in black and white, which at the time was the color of Everton FC’s soccer uniform. The combination of the name and the very well made caramel fudge helped make Everton Mint very popular with fans and locals.
Mother Noblett’s ingenuity didn’t stop there; He met with the Everton management and agreed with them that before each football game a girl would walk around the outside of the football field throwing Everton Mints to the crowd in the stands, free of charge! This helped make Mother Noblett and her Everton Mint the famous name that it is today. Mother Noblett’s granddaughter was honored as the first ‘Toffee Girl’ and this tradition continued at Everton FC for many years, even after Everton changed their soccer uniform from black and white to royal blue.
Mother Noblett was so successful with her candy and the crowd loved the ‘Toffee Girl’ so much that the club and fans decided to nickname the club ‘Toffees’, a name that has stuck with Everton throughout its history and that it is still recognizable today. .
Unfortunately, not much is known about what happened to Old Ma Bushell or his ‘Everton Toffee’; however, Old Ma Bushell should be given credit for the initial idea of the Everton Toffee / Mint. Credit should also go to Mother Noblett for having the vision and tenacity to take the Old Ma Bushells idea and turn it into a huge success. The Everton Mint now falls under the umbrella of the sweet giant Barker and Dobson and with their help it has managed to remain as popular now as it was more than 100 years ago.