A PHRASE familiar to North-Easterners is to appear on Love Hearts as company behind the confectionary bring their messages up-to-date.

Alreet Pet was suggested by 15-year-old Michael Adams from Houghton-le-Spring as part of competition to modernise the sweets.

The makers, Swizzels, has marked the 60th anniversary of its brand by asking fans for current phrases.

Michael said: “I thought it would be great to see some regional phrases on Love Hearts and coming from the North-East. I thought some Geordie lingo would be perfect.”

Michael’s suggestion was selected and he went to Swizzels headquarters in Derbyshire as a VIP, to see his unique winning message printed onto Love Hearts.

It is one of 14 which will now go into production and be sold in stores around the country.

Other winning messages include modern and current phrases such as, Skype Me, Take a Selfie, Tweet Me and YOLO.

Swizzels has been making Love Hearts for six decades and produces 1.75 billion sweets every year.

Jeremy Dee, managing director of Swizzels, said: “We had thousands of great entries and it was really tough narrowing them down to just 14.

“We had lots of fun reading through all the entries and would like to thank everyone who entered.

“It is very rare for us to change the messages on the Love Hearts but we felt that this was a great way to mark the special occasion.

“We had a great day welcoming Michael and the rest of the winners to the factory and getting their Love Hearts into production.”