A NEW study has crowned Warrington as the north west’s ‘Halloween treat capital’.

As Halloween fast approaches, confectioners Geraldo’s have analysed Google data for 545 keywords.

These include ‘Halloween sweets’ and ‘fancy Halloween candy’ to see which areas of the UK are looking for a spooky treat.

The firm also compared search data from September 2023 to September 2024 to see which places in the UK were searching for more Halloween sweets than ever before.

Warrington saw searches boom by 117.14 per cent between 2023 and 2024, followed by Knowsley with a 100 per cent rise and Blackpool with an increase of 66.67 per cent.

The UK as a whole saw 7.4 per cent more searches for something spooky and sweet in 2024 than in 2023, with searches rising from 76,420 to 82,080.

England saw the largest increase of any of the home nations with a 14.77 per cent rise, followed by Wales with 8.18 per cent.

Scotland and Northern Ireland however saw a fall in searches of -4.12 per cent and -7.12 per cent respectively.

The highest number of searches in 2024 belonged to Birmingham, with a total of 2,520 searches making it the city most passionate about spooky snacks.

Not everywhere in the UK has been getting into the Halloween spirit however, as some areas showed large falls.

In the north west, neighbouring Wigan saw the largest fall with a -44.12 per cent drop in searches, followed by Bury with a fall of -21.62 per cent and Chorley which saw searches decrease by -17.86 per cent.

Nationally, Hinckley and Bosworth saw the largest fall of -80 per cent in 2024 with just 40 searches recorded in September. This was followed by Wokingham with -74.07 per cent.

Monmouth beat Hinckley and Bosworth to the bottom of the search table however with only 30 searches recorded for the area in September 2024.

Toni Dawson, owner of Geraldo’s, said: “Whether you are sitting down with your favourite snacks to watch something spooky or dishing out a handful of sweets to trick-or-treaters, for a lot of people, Halloween is as much about something sweet as it is about scares.

“Over the years, the UK has been waking up to the fun Halloween can offer, and it is no longer seen as the American import it once was.

“So, it is no surprise to see that there are more people than ever eager to celebrate spooky season.”