The delicious plink-clunk of boiled sweets being poured from a jar to be weighed.

A lost memory for many but the old scales bowl still rattles at Granelli's as it has every day for more than 100 years.

Black Bullets, Rhubarb and Custard, Acid Drops, Yorkshire Mixture and Sour Apples clatter into quarter and two-ounce bags.

Aniseed Balls, Rainbow Crystals, Kopp Kopps, Fish, Fudge and Chewy Lips line the shelves and wait, as evocative as forgotten holiday snaps, to be rediscovered.

Started by a family of Italian immigrants to Sheffield from Genova, the Granellis began selling home-made ice cream from their Scotland Street parlour in 'Little Italy' in 1874 – and they've been at it ever since.

Rosita Granelli (married name Hunt) – the great grandaughter of Luigi Granelli the founding father of the Sheffield dynasty – took over the running of the business when her brother Peter died, and still lives on the premises with her retired sister Irene.

"It's not by design but there are not many shops like this left any more," said Rosita, who guards her age as closely she does the family's ice-cream recipe.

"Others like us have gone and people are willing to travel to come to us now.

"We had a couple over from Manchester yesterday and we get quite a few who come with their children who have been to swimming competitions at Ponds Forge. They often take quite a bit back with them because they don't know when they'll be back.

"There's a lot of oohing and aahing when they come in and try to remember all the sweets from their childhood."

Generations of Sheffield kids have stood with farthings, tanners and 50ps for their sweet treats to be weighed, bagged and handed through the counter hatch.

But the Granelli's started with a handcart selling ice cream made the old fashioned way behind the shop in Scotland Street, then moved to a horse and cart and eventually to the ice cream vans that still travel the city today.

"Before me, my brother and my sister it was my uncle and my father – the 'Granelli Brothers' and their parents and grandparents before them. The old Italians used to go back to Italy in the winter when the demand for ice cream fell away," said Rosita. "We don't go back so often now but we still have family over there."

Rosita and her family have spent their lives at the shop on Broad Street underneath the Supertram bridge and overlooking Park Square and she can remember the days before the huge roundabout.

"There was a pub, The Lord Nelson, which joined on to us on the other side of the archway. Then there was a garage and a horse trough in the middle of the road. There was The Samson pub on the corner of Broad Street and Duke Street.

"Violet May's record shop and Hilton's the barber's was on the corner. There was a milliner's and Boots the Chemist.

"Corker's fruit shop, the Post Office on the left, Park Pictures cinema was on South Street, a carpet shop and Benson's the furniture shop.