If you've landed here searching for Strathaven toffee, you're not alone. Every week, hundreds of people across Scotland and beyond type those two words into Google — looking for a taste they remember from childhood, a gift they once received, or a sweet they've heard about but can't seem to track down.
The short answer is: Gilmour's Strathaven Toffee Shop closed its doors in 2005. The product that made it famous — Gilmour's Original Pure Butter Tablet — is no longer in production.
But the longer story is worth telling. And if you're here because you're craving proper handmade Scottish tablet, we can help with that too.
The Story of Gilmour's Strathaven Toffee Shop
Samuel Gilmour first started making Strathaven Toffee in 1904, working from premises on Waterside Street in Strathaven, a small market town in South Lanarkshire. In 1924, the family opened The Toffee Shop at 33 Common Green - the retail shopfront that most people remember - and in 1927 production moved to a dedicated factory at 4 Commercial Road. Over the next eight decades, S.W. Gilmour would become one of the most recognised names in Scottish confectionery.
Their flagship product was Gilmour's Original Pure Butter Tablet. Despite the shop being called a "toffee shop," the product that made them famous was, in fact, Scottish tablet - that golden, crumbly, intensely sweet confection made from sugar, condensed milk, and butter. The name "toffee" stuck as a local term, but anyone who tasted it knew exactly what it was: proper tablet, made the traditional way.
At its peak, Gilmour's employed around 15 people. The tablet was made at the Commercial Road factory - formerly Fleming's Dairy - and sold from the shop on Common Green, as well as distributed wholesale across Central Scotland. For decades, a trip to Strathaven wasn't complete without a stop at Gilmour's. It was the kind of place where tourists and locals queued together, where grandparents took grandchildren, and where a wee bag of tablet was the standard souvenir.
Why Strathaven Toffee Was Special
What made Gilmour's tablet stand out? The same things that make any great Scottish tablet stand out - quality ingredients, traditional methods, and the kind of consistency that only comes from doing one thing well for a very long time.
The recipe was simple: sugar, butter, and condensed milk, boiled in open pans and poured onto cooling tables. No shortcuts, no artificial ingredients, no mass-production techniques. Every batch was made by hand, and the result was a tablet with that perfect balance of crumble and melt that's so hard to achieve at home.
People who grew up eating Gilmour's tablet describe it with a fondness that borders on reverence. It was the taste of visits to Gran's house, of school fairs, of Burns Night suppers and Highland games. The kind of food memory that stays with you for life - and that you spend years trying to recapture.
When Did Gilmour's Close?
Gilmour's Strathaven Toffee Shop ceased trading in March 2005, after over a century of service to the town - the business having started back in 1904. The last owners were Ian Gilmour and his wife Wendy, who had continued the family tradition into the twenty-first century.
The factory at 4 Commercial Road had already been demolished in 1997 and replaced with flats. When the shop on Common Green finally closed, it marked the end of an era - not just for Strathaven, but for anyone who considered Gilmour's tablet a part of their Scottish identity.
In the years since, various shops in Strathaven have attempted to fill the gap, selling their own versions of "Strathaven Tablet." Some have been decent. None have quite captured the magic of the original - at least according to the people who remember it.
The Wartime Years
One fascinating chapter in the Gilmour's story is what happened during the Second World War. When sweet rationing was introduced during the Second World War, making tablet became impossible - you simply couldn't get the quantity of sugar needed. Rather than close entirely, Gilmour's pivoted to operating as a grocery outlet, keeping the business alive through the rationing years. Sweet rationing continued until 1952 - seven years after the war ended - and it wasn't until 1954 that the manufacturing side of the business was able to resume properly. Once it did, Gilmour's picked up exactly where they left off.
That resilience says something about the Gilmour family and about Scottish confectionery more broadly. The craft survives because the people who make it - and the people who love it - refuse to let it disappear.
Why People Still Search for Strathaven Toffee
Twenty years after Gilmour's closed, the search queries keep coming. "Strathaven toffee where to buy." "Strathaven toffee online stockists." "Strathaven toffee discontinued." There's clearly a demand that isn't being met - not for Gilmour's specifically (that recipe is gone), but for the experience of proper handmade Scottish tablet made the traditional way.
And that's something we understand deeply. At Confectious, we've been making handmade Scottish tablet in Glasgow since 1932 - which means we were doing this before Gilmour's hit their stride. Our methods are remarkably similar: sugar, butter, and condensed milk, boiled in open pans and poured onto cast-iron cooling tables. No mass production. No artificial ingredients in our traditional recipe. Just tablet, made properly, every single day.
How Confectious Carries the Tradition Forward
We're not claiming to be Gilmour's. We're not trying to replicate their exact recipe — every confectioner's tablet has its own character, and that's as it should be. But we are part of the same tradition: a family confectionery business, making Scottish tablet by hand using methods that haven't changed in generations.
In fact, when Gilmour's equipment went to auction, we were there. We bought their cast-iron cooling tables - the same surfaces Gilmour's had been pouring tablet onto for decades - along with a chocolate enrober and its homebrew-style cooling tunnel. Those cooling tables have been refurbished a number of times since, but they're still in daily use in our Glasgow factory. Every batch of Confectious tablet is poured onto tables that once held Strathaven Toffee. We're confectioners ourselves; we understood what those pieces meant, and it felt right that they went to people who'd keep them working.
We also came away with a few other items from that auction. We can't say much about those - but let's just say the recipes are in safe hands.
We make two styles of tablet:
Totally Tempting Tablet is our preservative-free recipe - just sugar, butter, condensed milk, water, and skimmed milk powder. Five ingredients, nothing else. It's the closest thing to traditional homemade tablet you'll find from a commercial producer. Golden, crumbly, and best eaten fresh within about five weeks. This is the one that would feel most familiar to anyone who remembers Gilmour's.
Irresistibly Indulgent Tablet is our smoother, longer-lasting take on the classic. It uses both condensed and evaporated milk for a richer, more melt-in-your-mouth texture, and lasts up to 28 weeks. It's ideal for gifting, posting to friends and family, or stocking up so you've always got tablet in the house.
Both are handmade in our Glasgow bakery by our master confectioners. Both are shipped fresh with free delivery across the UK. And both have earned us thousands of five-star reviews and a growing community of subscribers who get fresh tablet delivered through their letterbox every month.
A Note on "Toffee" vs "Tablet"
It's worth clarifying something that the name "Strathaven Toffee" sometimes confuses. Scottish tablet and toffee are not the same thing. Toffee is cooked to a higher temperature (around 150°C) to create a hard, chewy sweet. Tablet is boiled to around 118°C - the "firm ball" stage - then beaten to encourage the fine sugar crystal formation that gives it its signature crumbly texture.
Gilmour's product was always tablet, not toffee. The "toffee shop" name was simply how the locals referred to it, in the same way that a sweet shop might sell everything from liquorice to lollipops but still be called "the sweetie shop." If you're searching for Strathaven toffee, what you're actually looking for is Scottish tablet - and that's exactly what we make.
Strathaven Toffee FAQ
Can you still buy Strathaven toffee?
Gilmour's Original Pure Butter Tablet is no longer produced. The shop closed in 2005 and the recipe is not commercially available. Some shops in Strathaven sell their own tablet under various names, but Gilmour's product itself is gone. If you're looking for traditional handmade Scottish tablet made using the same methods, our tablet range is made fresh daily in Glasgow and ships free across the UK.
When did Gilmour's toffee shop close?
Gilmour's Strathaven Toffee Shop ceased trading in March 2005. The business had been running since 1904, with the shop at 33 Common Green opening in 1924. The factory at 4 Commercial Road had been demolished in 1997.
Is Strathaven toffee the same as Scottish tablet?
Yes. Despite the name "toffee shop," Gilmour's made Scottish tablet - a crumbly, melt-in-your-mouth confection made from sugar, butter, and condensed milk. It's distinct from toffee, which is harder and chewier. If you're searching for Strathaven toffee, Scottish tablet is what you're looking for.
Where can I buy Scottish tablet online?
We make handmade Scottish tablet fresh every day in Glasgow and ship it free to anywhere in the UK. Our Totally Tempting Tablet is preservative-free, and our Irresistibly Indulgent Tablet has a 28-week shelf life for gifting and stocking up. We also offer subscription boxes from just £4 a box.
What was in Gilmour's Strathaven toffee?
Gilmour's Original Pure Butter Tablet was made from sugar, condensed milk, and butter - the same core ingredients used in traditional Scottish tablet for centuries. Our Totally Tempting Tablet uses the same foundation: sugar, butter, condensed milk, water, and skimmed milk powder, with no preservatives.
Try Proper Handmade Scottish Tablet
If you've been searching for Strathaven toffee, the craving you have is for real, handmade Scottish tablet - the kind made in small batches with traditional methods, not the mass-produced stuff you'll find in supermarkets.
We've been making ours in Glasgow since 1932, and we'd love for you to try it. Start with a 95g bar for £1.60, or go for a Pick Your Own Selection Box and try our tablet alongside our handmade fudge and Scottish macaroon bars.
Every order ships free. And if you fall for it the way so many people fell for Gilmour's, our Subscribe & Save boxes will keep you stocked — delivered through your letterbox on a schedule that suits you, with 10% off every delivery.
