Open Thursdays and Fridays 9am to 3pm Free Chocolate Museum on the premises
07774 411954 6 High Street · EX34 9DF
ILFRACOMBE Chocolate Emporium · High Street · Est. 2019 Book a workshop
★ Hand-crafted on High Street · free Chocolate Museum · since 2019

Hand-crafted on High Street. Thursdays and Fridays only.

At 6 High Street, Ilfracombe, Jeannette Cann tempers Belgian couverture on the cold slab at the back of the shop. The kitchen window faces a free Chocolate Museum: a six-foot Chocolate Man, a real chocolate dog, a giant Easter egg, and a wall of vintage chocolate boxes. Open Thursdays and Fridays, 9am to 3pm.

2019Jeannette opens the doors
2Trading days a week
6ftThe Chocolate Man stands
See the free museum Book a workshop
Hand-crafted chocolates by Jeannette Cann at Ilfracombe Chocolate Emporium, photographed by Becky Craven
6 HIGH STREET · SINCE 2019 Tempered Belgian couverture. Caramel, coffee, violet, rose, Devon-cream centre.
Th & FrOpen 9 to 3, two days a week
FreeChocolate Museum on premises
6ftChocolate Man in the museum
Mon to WedWorkshops upstairs by booking
On the counter · this week

Three counters, one slab.

Walk through to the museum →
A tray of individual hand-piped chocolates by Jeannette Cann at Ilfracombe Chocolate Emporium
INDIVIDUAL CHOCOLATES

Hand-piped on the slab

Belgian couverture, tempered on the cold slab at the back of the shop. Caramel, coffee, violet, rose, Devon-cream centre. The kitchen window faces the museum, so visitors watch the work as they look.

Hand-crafted chocolate bars in bright seaside wrappers at Ilfracombe Chocolate Emporium
BARS AND SLABS

Slim bars, giant slabs

Single-origin bars in seaside-bright wrappers. Half-pound slabs for the picnic at Tunnels Beaches. Sugar-free, dairy-free, vegan and gluten-free options sit on the same counter, not behind a separate label.

Chocolate novelties and Easter pieces by Ilfracombe Chocolate Emporium
NOVELTIES

Novelties for the journey home

Sea-shells, anchors, hen-do favours, kids’-party fillers. Easter sets in March, hen-party trays year-round. Bespoke moulds for the coach-party order: ring through on the Tuesday for the Thursday opening.

All chocolates tempered and finished at 6 High Street. Sugar-free, dairy-free, vegan and gluten-free options on every counter, never behind a separate label.

Free admission · whenever the shop is open

A free Chocolate Museum, on the premises.

Visit Ilfracombe writes: “Browse the exhibits and mementoes in our free chocolate museum, including our six-foot ‘hunk’ of chocolate, giant Easter egg, and adverts and chocolate boxes from yesteryear, even a real chocolate dog.” You can watch a video of chocolate being made and, if Jeannette is in the kitchen, you can view her making chocolate for sale.

The Chocolate Museum interior at Ilfracombe Chocolate Emporium, with the six-foot Chocolate Man visible
THE MUSEUM ROOM · 6 HIGH STREETThe six-foot Chocolate Man stands at the front. The chocolate dog sits by the door.
1

Six-foot Chocolate Man

Cast in solid chocolate, standing in the front of the museum room. Photographed more than any other exhibit in the building.

2

A real chocolate dog

Hand-modelled by Jeannette, life-size, sitting on his haunches by the museum door. The line everyone repeats afterwards.

3

Giant Easter egg

A working-scale Easter egg from a 1960s seaside-confectionery mould, kept on display year-round.

4

Vintage chocolate-box wall

Adverts and chocolate boxes from yesteryear. The Cadbury bourneville rows, the Fry’s Five Boys, the Rowntree’s Pastilles tins.

5

The kitchen window

A glass panel into the working kitchen. If Jeannette is on the slab, you can watch her temper, pipe and dip.

6

How chocolate is made

A short video that plays on loop. Cocoa pod to bean to liquor to bar, in seven minutes.

Jeannette Cann tempering chocolate at the slab in the working kitchen at Ilfracombe Chocolate Emporium
Through the kitchen window

The chocolatier, the slab and the kitchen window.

On a Thursday or Friday morning, the kitchen door is open to the museum. Jeannette tempers Belgian couverture on the cold slab, pipes ganache through a fine-set bag, dips fruit into the back-of-the-counter caramel. The museum visitor stands by the chocolate dog and watches the work. The video plays on the wall for the days when the slab is between batches.

  • Couverture. Tempered to 31°C for milk, 32°C for dark, on the marble slab.
  • Centres. Caramel cooked in the Devon-cream pan, ganache piped by hand, fondants set overnight.
  • Dietary. Sugar-free, dairy-free, vegan and gluten-free centres on the same counter, not behind a label.
A hands-on chocolate workshop at Ilfracombe Chocolate Emporium
UPSTAIRS ROOM · MON, TUE, WEDHen parties, kids’ birthdays, family afternoons.
Mon, Tue, Wed · by booking

Workshops upstairs. Hen parties, birthdays, family afternoons.

The upstairs room runs hands-on workshops Mon-Wed, by booking. Tempering demonstration on the slab, dipping fruit and sweets into the warm couverture, decorating a tray of moulded shapes, bar-moulding for the bigger groups. Suited to hen dos, kids’ birthdays, family afternoons, work-team away-days. Group sizes from four upwards.

Or phone 07774 411954 on a Thursday or Friday morning.

Two days a week, since 2019

A High Street chocolatier who also runs the museum.

Jeannette Cann incorporated Ilfracombe Chocolate Emporium Ltd in March 2019 and took the painted signage at 6 High Street. The Chocolate Museum was hers from the start. She is the chocolatier, the curator, and the person Visit Ilfracombe calls "the chocolatier in the kitchen". Few chocolatiers in Britain run a free museum next to their slab. Almost none restrict their trading week to two days. The eccentricity is the point: the shop is a destination, not a passing trade, and the museum is the hook that earns the journey.

The High Street climbs from the parish church at the top to the harbour at the bottom. Damien Hirst’s sixty-six-foot Verity stands in the harbour, donated to the town in 2012. Ilfracombe sits on the South West Coast Path between Combe Martin and Woolacombe. The coast-path walker who steps inside on a Thursday morning is the visitor the museum is built for.

"You can watch a video of chocolate being made and, if the chocolatier is in the kitchen, you can view her making chocolate for sale."
Visit Ilfracombe · tourist-board listing
2019
Jeannette Cann incorporates Ilfracombe Chocolate Emporium Ltd on 21 March. 6 High Street takes the painted signage that’s still on the door.
2020
The Chocolate Museum opens upstairs, then moves to the front of the shop. Free admission from day one.
2022
Workshops upstairs become a fixture for hen parties, kids’ birthdays, Mon-Wed group bookings.
2024
The six-foot Chocolate Man is finished and set in the museum front. Becky Craven shoots the chocolates and the museum interior on commission.
2025
A second stockist point opens at the 43 Artisan Gallery on Fore Street so the chocolates are available seven days a week.
Today
Open every Thursday and Friday, 9am to 3pm. Workshops Mon-Wed by booking. Taste of the West member.
Visit · 6 High Street

Open Thursdays and Fridays, 9am to 3pm.

Walk up from the harbour past Verity, past the Landmark Theatre, into High Street. Number 6 is on the right as you climb. Bench outside, painted door, a poster of the next workshop. On Saturday and Sunday the chocolates are stocked at the 43 Artisan Gallery on Fore Street so you can find them either side of the trading week.

Mon
Closed · Workshops upstairs by booking
Tue
Closed · Workshops upstairs by booking
Wed
Closed · Workshops upstairs by booking
Thu
09:00 - 15:00 · Shop and museum open
Fri
09:00 - 15:00 · Shop and museum open
Sat
Closed · Find us at 43 Artisan Gallery, Fore Street
Sun
Closed · Find us at 43 Artisan Gallery, Fore Street

Phone 07774 411954 · email info@greatchocolate.co.uk

6 High Street, Ilfracombe EX34 9DF. Up from the harbour, past Verity, into High Street. Open in Google Maps ↗
The painted door · since 2019

Look for the hand-painted signage.

Number 6 has carried the same hand-painted signage since Jeannette took the keys. The painted door is half the wayfinding; the museum window with the six-foot Chocolate Man is the other half. If the door is open, the slab is on and the kitchen window is live.

The hand-painted shopfront of Ilfracombe Chocolate Emporium at 6 High Street
FAQ

Five questions a High Street visitor asks first.

Most are answered at the counter. The shorter answers live here so the coach-party organiser and the hen-party booker can read them on the phone before they walk up the hill.

Is the museum really free?+

Yes. The Chocolate Museum is on the premises at 6 High Street and admission is free whenever the shop is open. Donations to the swear-jar for the chocolate dog are entirely optional.

Why are you only open on Thursdays and Fridays?+

Because that’s when the chocolatier is at the slab. Monday to Wednesday are workshop days for hen parties, birthdays and group bookings; Thursday and Friday are shop days; the weekend is a rest day for a one-chocolatier business. The chocolates are stocked seven days a week at the 43 Artisan Gallery on Fore Street if you can’t make a Thursday.

Can I book a workshop for a hen party or a kids’ birthday?+

Yes. The upstairs room takes friends, family, hen parties and birthdays Mon-Wed. Tempering demonstration, dipping, decorating, bar-moulding. Email info@greatchocolate.co.uk or phone 07774 411954 for group sizes and prices.

Do you make dairy-free, vegan, sugar-free or gluten-free chocolates?+

Yes, all four, on the same counter as the rest. The bars and the individual chocolates both have dietary-option variants. Tell us at the counter and we’ll point you at the right tray.

Can I watch the chocolate being made?+

On a Thursday or Friday morning, yes. The kitchen window faces the museum room. If Jeannette is on the slab you can see her temper, pipe and dip. If the slab is between batches there is a video on loop that covers the cocoa-pod to finished-chocolate process in seven minutes.