A PARTNERSHIP which started from a meeting in a pub continues to pursue the dream of being the “name of sweets in the UK”.

Television star Jamie Laing and business partner Ed Williams founded gourmet sweet brand Candy Kittens with the goal of trying to create the perfect sweets.

Five years on from the business’ launch, Candy Kittens is now stocked by several major supermarket chains.

Visiting Virgin StartUp, in the Daily Echo building, to talk about the story behind their business, the pair said they have always maintained the same aim.

“Whenever you start you want to dream as big as you possibly can - I think they call it a hairy dream,” Mr Laing said.

“Ed and I have always had one aim, one direction and one outcome. We wanted to create a sweet company that was going to provide the best sweets and to take over the confectionary market.

“Ed told me instead of creating this amazing sweet shop and world of sweets, we should scale it down and make packets of sweets.

“From that moment on we decided we were going to try and create the most perfect sweet in the world.

“We always had a vision, we’re always going towards it, we always know where we are going to go and I think that’s key whenever starting any business.

“I was told this ages ago and I still say it today and it’s 100 per cent think it’s true.

“If you’re driving down the M1 to Leeds don’t veer off to Manchester. Always go on the road to Leeds. If you start veering off to different places you get confused and get lost.”

With new lines set to be released in early 2018, the entrepreneurs say they continue to have big ambitions for the business.

Mr Williams says dreaming big is key to making a business work.

“We didn’t just set out to say we want to sell our sweets in our local corner shop. We went much bigger and wanted to sell in Tesco from day one,” Mr Williams said.

“Working fast is really important. If you work fast you can get ahead of the competition and never give up. Stick true to your beliefs and never let anybody take you away from it.”

Mr Laing, who is known for starring in television show Made in Chelsea, added: “The reason why businesses fail is because people give up - they are not persistent. If it was easy everyone would do it.

“The amazing thing about starting a business is the prospect of failure. The fact you have a chance of failing makes it exciting.

“Life is like a heart monitor, it goes up and down. If it flat lines you’re dead. Same with business. It goes up and down. You appreciate the high points because you have the low points and that is important to understand. Never give up and keep going.”

While Mr Laing maintains a busy career in television he says his business partner works tirelessly to manage Candy Kittens on a day-to-day basis.

A graduate of Loughborough University, Mr Williams says the partnership is vital.

“I lean on Jamie a lot for things he’s much better at that I can’t do and vice versa,” he said.

“We’re lucky we are so different because otherwise we wouldn’t make such a great team.”