A YORKSHIRE favourite is to take on the UK!

Yorkshire-made Sports Mix and Midget Gems - manufactured at Cleckheaton's Lion Confectionery factory - are to tickle the tastebuds of people across Britain.

The brands are being marketed by the Maynards Wine Gum family to introduce the north's favourite hard gums to people in the south of England.

Both sweets, Lion's two biggest-selling brands, will continue to be manufactured at the factory in Cleckheaton.

The firm, which has premises in Westgate, has been producing sweets since 1903.

The only difference in the new marketing deal is that the eye-catching packaging will bear the Maynards logo.

A Lion spokesman said: "Loyal customers will still be able to instantly recognise their favourite hard gums and taste them!

"Both Midget Gems and Sports Mixture have a dedicated following in the north of England but are little known outside the region.

"With the support of Maynards' national brand recognition and distribution, the aim is to duplicate their popularity in the south too, exposing Midget Gems and Sports Mixture to millions of potential new consumers."

Both Lion and Maynards are part of the UK's leading confectionery company Cadbury Trebor Bassett.

The Lion firm was established in 1903 by brothers Frank and Albert Hardhill in a converted row of cottages in Cleckheaton.

The Lion factory produces more than 400,000 bags of sweets every week and employs more than 50 people.

Maynard was started by Charles Riley in 1880. He made sweets in his kitchen with his brother, Tom. Maynards was launched as a company in 1896 and Maynards Wine Gums were introduced in 1909 by son Charles Gordon Maynard.