Weaving through walls of sweets, I feel like I have wandered on to the set of Charlie and The Chocolate Factory. Display stands of M&Ms and Skittles stretch out in front of me as far as the eye can see. Vast bowls containing lollipops and bubblegum fight for my attention. One stand is heaving with Haribo - every kind of Haribo, in bumper bags. The effect of the multi-coloured wrappers in neat stacks stretching on and on is almost hypnotic. Scroll down for video . Like a child in a sweet shop... but Melissa's haul of goodies came from clothing store Next . But this is not a sweet factory, or even a sweet shop. This is clothes retailer Primark. I am queuing in its flagship store on London's Oxford Street to buy a top. But before you can purchase anything, the store forces you to snake through this maze of sugar, fat and E numbers. Elsewhere on Oxford Street, I found vast quantities of sweets by the tills in Topshop, River Island and Next. It seems highly ironic, and cynical, that the clothing stores catering to image-conscious young women are pushing sugary treats in such an aggressive way. The problems this practice could be exacerbating, or even causing, could not be more worrying as the country faces a worsening epidemic of obesity. In the UK, 64 per cent of adults are now classed as being overweight or obese. A huge increase in heart attacks, strokes and diabetes has been predicted by health experts unless this trend is turned around. Most worryingly, perhaps, the latest figures for 2012/13 showed that 18.9 per cent of children in Year 6 (aged ten to 11) were obese and a further 14.4 per cent were overweight. Why so many sweets in a clothes shop? The sweet treats in Next are 'seasonal merchandise aimed at the gift market' according to their spokesman . The problems caused by treats at the tills - the 'please Mum!' syndrome - sparked a massive campaign a few years ago by parents and health groups, with such pressure being brought to bear on the food retailers that a number of the big ones - including Tesco and Aldi - have said they will remove all chocolates and sweets from all their checkout areas by Christmas. But outside the supermarkets a new battle is raging, for which campaigners admit they were totally unprepared. The phalanx of calorie-laden nasties offered up by clothing giants makes the supermarket checkouts seem decidedly tame. What is happening in clothes stores is far more insidious, because these shops are not on the radar of the health officials, and the sweets are clearly aimed at adults. Take the message on Topshop's own-brand products, for example: 'You don't stop eating sweets when you get old. You get old when you stop eating sweets,' it declares. Clearly, a good deal of thought has gone into marketing these 'sweet treats', as they call them. A stand near the door is filled with giant jars and packs of Marshmallow Fluff, Reese's Peanut Butter Pieces, and Millions Strawberry Bits. Temptation: Oxford Street's Topshop store even has a cup cake stall . There's also a range called Gourmet Naturally. The packaging reveals that the Watermelon Sours in this range contain 28 calories and nearly five grams of sugar per sweet - that's over a teaspoon each. There's nothing natural about that. Move beyond this mountain of sugary gunk, and you find a display cabinet full of Lola's Cupcakes, with cakes iced every colour of the rainbow. But, surely, nobody goes to a clothes store to buy chocolate, sweets or cupcakes? So why put it in their minds? Malcolm Clark, of the food and health charity Sustain, says it's all about channelling the 'sitting duck' queueing at the check-out. 'Compared with five or ten years ago there is this whole range of non-food retailers who have taken on the profit-making idea of sweets at the checkouts, primarily in shops for teenagers. There is no excuse for it in clothes shops. It's really cynical.' Not for those wanting to fit into a skinny jeans: Melissa was amazed at how many sweets were on sale in River Island . And why pick the very worst kinds of sweets? In River Island, there are super-sized marshmallow bars which are so full of E numbers that they bear a warning on the back: 'May have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.' Somehow, I rather suspect they aren't much good for adults, either. Ploughing on, I head to Next, which I thought might be more restrained. But a stand by the checkout bears a polka-dot patterned 480g jar of chocolate and toffee popcorn and, for a second, I catch myself thinking it would look nice on my desk. The practice of selling food in non-food shops has been gaining pace for years. WHSmith made headlines in 2006 when David Cameron attacked it for promoting cut-price chocolate at the counter. But the store defended its actions and still forces customers to run the gauntlet of chocolate and sweets whenever you pay for a newspaper. Well-placed: The sweets are by the tills in Primark to tempt shoppers as they queue . It is arguably worse than most in that its staff are instructed to ask customers if they want the chocolate that is on special offer when they make a purchase. Even the self-service checkouts force you to press a button accepting or declining a chocolate or drink offer before you can pay and leave. It is especially shocking to see this level of sugar-pushing on the High Street after the supermarkets moved to stop the practice. Tesco was the first to remove sweets and chocolates from checkouts at its larger outlets way back in 1994 - and its smaller outlets are to follow soon. In January, Lidl banned confectionery from the checkout in its 600 British stores and replaced it with dried and fresh fruit, oatcakes and juices. What the clothes shops are up to is manipulative in the extreme. To understand how it all works, you have to consider the stress of finding then trying on an outfit on a crowded shop floor while pounding pop music assaults your ears. A sugar low is inevitable. And then there's the emotional factor. Teenagers and young women feel unprecedented pressure to look like their idols - either stick-thin like Kate Moss or with impossible curves like Kim Kardashian. Wonkers: This Primark display looks like something out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory . There is nothing so depressing as the sight of a normal body trying to squeeze into the latest fashions in an unforgiving changing room mirror. A girlfriend of mine in her 20s, for example, tells me that she recently became so frustrated in Topshop she picked up a giant bag of Haribo while queuing. 'They get you when you are feeling terrible about your body because you can't fit into any of the clothes,' she says. 'I was trying to comfort myself, basically, while queuing up to buy something in a bigger size than I thought I needed.' In other words, while customers might buy the sweets, they hate themselves for doing it, and hate the stores for tempting - or indeed tricking - them. Double standards: While campaigns have been launched to stop sweets aimed at children being placed at supermarket tills, these sweets aimed at adults are allowed in clothing stores . Armfuls of junk: Melissa with sweets from River Island which they can sell with big margains . So why do the stores persist? One word: profit. Industry experts say the profit margins must be huge, although the stores are incredibly protective about the sales figures of these items. They know all too well, perhaps, that they may soon be on the radar of health campaigners and the Government. Another factor is the deals allegedly done by confectionery giants, some of whom may be paying the stores to place their chocolate bars and sweets in prominent positions. We asked all the retailers whose stores we visited why they sold sweets but only one, Next, replied. 'The reason we have more confectionery in store at present is because it is part of our seasonal merchandise aimed at the gift market,' its spokesman said. So what can customers do? You could leave one of Sustain's Checkout Challenge cards, available on its website, in a shop to let them know if you're annoyed with the amount of junk food on sale. 'The Government's focus has been on the stores selling food so those companies are engaged in a process. But the clothes stores are getting away with it,' says Malcolm Clark. Last night, a Department of Health spokesman said: 'We are delighted that stores such as Aldi, Lidl and Tesco are leading the way in removing sweets and confectionery at checkouts. We encourage other shops to follow their example in helping their customers to make healthier choices.'
Vast quantities of sweets by the tills in Topshop, River Island and Next .
Campaigns have been waged to stop such displays in supermarkets .
Made children beg their parents to buy them sweets .
What is happening in clothes stores is far more insidious .
Their sweets are clearly aimed at adults .
It's comfort food if they feel bad about not fitting into certain size dress .
Profit margins are huge for clothes stores selling sweets .
Weaving through walls of sweets, I feel like I have wandered on to the set of Charlie and The Chocolate Factory. Display stands of M&Ms and Skittles stretch out in front of me as far as the eye can see. Vast bowls containing lollipops and bubblegum fight for my attention. One stand is heaving with Haribo - every kind of Haribo, in bumper bags. The effect of the multi-coloured wrappers in neat stacks stretching on and on is almost hypnotic. Scroll down for video . Like a child in a sweet shop... but Melissa's haul of goodies came from clothing store Next . But this is not a sweet factory, or even a sweet shop. This is clothes retailer Primark. I am queuing in its flagship store on London's Oxford Street to buy a top. But before you can purchase anything, the store forces you to snake through this maze of sugar, fat and E numbers. Elsewhere on Oxford Street, I found vast quantities of sweets by the tills in Topshop, River Island and Next. It seems highly ironic, and cynical, that the clothing stores catering to image-conscious young women are pushing sugary treats in such an aggressive way. The problems this practice could be exacerbating, or even causing, could not be more worrying as the country faces a worsening epidemic of obesity. In the UK, 64 per cent of adults are now classed as being overweight or obese. A huge increase in heart attacks, strokes and diabetes has been predicted by health experts unless this trend is turned around. Most worryingly, perhaps, the latest figures for 2012/13 showed that 18.9 per cent of children in Year 6 (aged ten to 11) were obese and a further 14.4 per cent were overweight. Why so many sweets in a clothes shop? The sweet treats in Next are 'seasonal merchandise aimed at the gift market' according to their spokesman . The problems caused by treats at the tills - the 'please Mum!' syndrome - sparked a massive campaign a few years ago by parents and health groups, with such pressure being brought to bear on the food retailers that a number of the big ones - including Tesco and Aldi - have said they will remove all chocolates and sweets from all their checkout areas by Christmas. But outside the supermarkets a new battle is raging, for which campaigners admit they were totally unprepared. The phalanx of calorie-laden nasties offered up by clothing giants makes the supermarket checkouts seem decidedly tame. What is happening in clothes stores is far more insidious, because these shops are not on the radar of the health officials, and the sweets are clearly aimed at adults. Take the message on Topshop's own-brand products, for example: 'You don't stop eating sweets when you get old. You get old when you stop eating sweets,' it declares. Clearly, a good deal of thought has gone into marketing these 'sweet treats', as they call them. A stand near the door is filled with giant jars and packs of Marshmallow Fluff, Reese's Peanut Butter Pieces, and Millions Strawberry Bits. Temptation: Oxford Street's Topshop store even has a cup cake stall . There's also a range called Gourmet Naturally. The packaging reveals that the Watermelon Sours in this range contain 28 calories and nearly five grams of sugar per sweet - that's over a teaspoon each. There's nothing natural about that. Move beyond this mountain of sugary gunk, and you find a display cabinet full of Lola's Cupcakes, with cakes iced every colour of the rainbow. But, surely, nobody goes to a clothes store to buy chocolate, sweets or cupcakes? So why put it in their minds? Malcolm Clark, of the food and health charity Sustain, says it's all about channelling the 'sitting duck' queueing at the check-out. 'Compared with five or ten years ago there is this whole range of non-food retailers who have taken on the profit-making idea of sweets at the checkouts, primarily in shops for teenagers. There is no excuse for it in clothes shops. It's really cynical.' Not for those wanting to fit into a skinny jeans: Melissa was amazed at how many sweets were on sale in River Island . And why pick the very worst kinds of sweets? In River Island, there are super-sized marshmallow bars which are so full of E numbers that they bear a warning on the back: 'May have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.' Somehow, I rather suspect they aren't much good for adults, either. Ploughing on, I head to Next, which I thought might be more restrained. But a stand by the checkout bears a polka-dot patterned 480g jar of chocolate and toffee popcorn and, for a second, I catch myself thinking it would look nice on my desk. The practice of selling food in non-food shops has been gaining pace for years. WHSmith made headlines in 2006 when David Cameron attacked it for promoting cut-price chocolate at the counter. But the store defended its actions and still forces customers to run the gauntlet of chocolate and sweets whenever you pay for a newspaper. Well-placed: The sweets are by the tills in Primark to tempt shoppers as they queue . It is arguably worse than most in that its staff are instructed to ask customers if they want the chocolate that is on special offer when they make a purchase. Even the self-service checkouts force you to press a button accepting or declining a chocolate or drink offer before you can pay and leave. It is especially shocking to see this level of sugar-pushing on the High Street after the supermarkets moved to stop the practice. Tesco was the first to remove sweets and chocolates from checkouts at its larger outlets way back in 1994 - and its smaller outlets are to follow soon. In January, Lidl banned confectionery from the checkout in its 600 British stores and replaced it with dried and fresh fruit, oatcakes and juices. What the clothes shops are up to is manipulative in the extreme. To understand how it all works, you have to consider the stress of finding then trying on an outfit on a crowded shop floor while pounding pop music assaults your ears. A sugar low is inevitable. And then there's the emotional factor. Teenagers and young women feel unprecedented pressure to look like their idols - either stick-thin like Kate Moss or with impossible curves like Kim Kardashian. Wonkers: This Primark display looks like something out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory . There is nothing so depressing as the sight of a normal body trying to squeeze into the latest fashions in an unforgiving changing room mirror. A girlfriend of mine in her 20s, for example, tells me that she recently became so frustrated in Topshop she picked up a giant bag of Haribo while queuing. 'They get you when you are feeling terrible about your body because you can't fit into any of the clothes,' she says. 'I was trying to comfort myself, basically, while queuing up to buy something in a bigger size than I thought I needed.' In other words, while customers might buy the sweets, they hate themselves for doing it, and hate the stores for tempting - or indeed tricking - them. Double standards: While campaigns have been launched to stop sweets aimed at children being placed at supermarket tills, these sweets aimed at adults are allowed in clothing stores . Armfuls of junk: Melissa with sweets from River Island which they can sell with big margains . So why do the stores persist? One word: profit. Industry experts say the profit margins must be huge, although the stores are incredibly protective about the sales figures of these items. They know all too well, perhaps, that they may soon be on the radar of health campaigners and the Government. Another factor is the deals allegedly done by confectionery giants, some of whom may be paying the stores to place their chocolate bars and sweets in prominent positions. We asked all the retailers whose stores we visited why they sold sweets but only one, Next, replied. 'The reason we have more confectionery in store at present is because it is part of our seasonal merchandise aimed at the gift market,' its spokesman said. So what can customers do? You could leave one of Sustain's Checkout Challenge cards, available on its website, in a shop to let them know if you're annoyed with the amount of junk food on sale. 'The Government's focus has been on the stores selling food so those companies are engaged in a process. But the clothes stores are getting away with it,' says Malcolm Clark. Last night, a Department of Health spokesman said: 'We are delighted that stores such as Aldi, Lidl and Tesco are leading the way in removing sweets and confectionery at checkouts. We encourage other shops to follow their example in helping their customers to make healthier choices.'
Street, I found vast quantities of sweets by the tills in Topshop, River Island and Next. It seems checkouts seem decidedly tame. What is happening in clothes stores is far more insidious, because officials, and the sweets are clearly aimed at buy the sweets, they hate themselves for doing campaigns have been launched to stop sweets aimed these sweets aimed at adults are allowed in