Elizabeth Shaw (confectionery company) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Elizabeth Shaw

The Elizabeth Shaw chocolate factory on Co-operation Road
Type	Private
Industry	Confectionery
Founded	1810 (Ewbanks)
Headquarters	Bristol, UK
Key people	James Goldsmith, (chairman)
Products	Famous Brands & Elizabeth Shaw
Parent	Colian Holding

Elizabeth Shaw Ltd is a company from Bristol, UK. They make yummy chocolate treats! Some of their famous products are "Famous Names" liqueur chocolates and Elizabeth Shaw Mint chocolates. This company grew over time by joining with many other well-known sweet makers.

The company today is owned by Colian Holding. It became what it is through a series of mergers. First, a company called J A & P Holland brought many sweet companies together. Later, in the 1960s, a businessman named James Goldsmith added them to his big food company, Cavenham Foods.

Sweet Beginnings: The History of Ewbanks

The story of one part of Elizabeth Shaw began in 1810. A man named Thomas Firth started Firth Confectioners in Pontefract. This was the second factory in the town to make liquorice sweets, especially Pontefract cakes.

The business changed hands a few times. Eventually, it was run by Robert Ewbank and W. F. Horsell. In 1887, they moved to a bigger factory called Eagle Liquorice Works. The partnership ended in 1892, and Ewbank took full charge.

Ewbanks became an official company in 1912. During World War II, the factory was damaged by bombs. A new one opened in 1948. In 1961, another sweet company, Hollands of Southport, bought Ewbanks. The Eagle Liquorice Works closed in 1965.

Doncaster's Delight: S. Parkinson & Sons

Doncaster is famous for its butterscotch. It's believed that Parkinsons invented this sweet treat in 1848! The company was started by Samuel Parkinson, who had a grocery store on High Street in Doncaster.

In 1905, the company moved its production to Station Road. They advertised their butterscotch as Royal Doncaster Butterscotch or the Queen's Sweetmeat. In 1892, Samuel Balmforth bought the company from the Parkinson family.

Parkinsons became an official company in 1912. They moved to new buildings in Wheatley. At this time, they also made baking powder and liquorice. By 1956, the company had over 500 employees. They also started making Parkinsons Boiled Sweets. Hollands of Southport bought this company in 1961 too.

Yeatman & Co: From Yeast to Jellies

Yeatman & Co was started in 1857 by Israel Edward Woolf in Stepney, London. They first sold yeast powder. Later, they opened a factory and started making many different products.

By 1884, they made baking powders, different flours, and even things like lime-juice cordial and custard powder. They also made flavouring essences and insect powder! In 1899, people said their ginger marmalade and coffee extract tasted really good.

The company became official in 1898. They added more products like soups, jams, jellies, and sweets. Their Yeatman's Delicious Jelly Tablets were even sent to places like Australia. They also made the first sweets for Marks & Spencer stores!

During the Blitz in World War II, their factories in Stepney were destroyed by fire. With help from the government, Yeatman's opened a new factory in Watford. Here, they made canned and bottled fruit, fruit squashes, and sweets under the Goodies and Selesta brands. Their most remembered product was Sunny Spread.

In 1964, James Goldsmith bought the business. It became part of his Cavenham Foods company. The factory was later sold to Goldsmith's old company, Mothercare.

Chocolate Makers: H J Packer & Carsons

H J Packer postbox at Greenbank

The H J Packer business started in 1881 in Bristol. Edward Packer, who used to work for J. S. Fry & Sons, started it with his sister and brother. In 1884, another former Fry's employee, H. J. Burrows, joined them, and the company became H. J. Packer & Co.

However, the partnership ended a year later, and Burrows became the only owner. But within a year, he sold the business for £950 to Caleb Bruce Cole.

The Greenbank factory

Sales for the business grew a lot from 1894. So, in 1901, the company moved to a new factory specially designed for them in Greenbank. This move helped them grow even more. Between 1903 and 1912, sales went up by 250%! They made popular chocolates for children, like Two ounces per penny quality chocolates and Packers Chocolate Mixers.

In 1908, the company grew by buying Carsons, a fancy chocolate maker from Glasgow. They also created a new brand called Bonds of Bristol for luxury chocolates made at Greenbank. Carsons' Glasgow factory closed, and production moved to a new factory near Mangotsfield, Gloucestershire.

Carsons factory at Shorwood

By the early 1920s, the company was the 4th largest chocolate maker in Britain. They had over 2000 employees and introduced new products like Milk Crispets. Carsons Chocolate was even taken by Sir Ernest Shackleton and his team on their famous expeditions!

However, the company's luck changed by the start of World War II. By 1955, they relaunched the Packers brand with new products like Summit chocolate bars and penny sweets like White Mice and Sweet cigarettes. In 1961, Carsons' production moved to Greenbank.

Carsons was the biggest British maker of chocolate liqueurs, sold under the Famous Brands name. In 1962, H J Packer changed its name to Carsons Ltd. But the company was still losing money. In 1964, James Goldsmith bought the company, and it became one of the first businesses in his big company, Cavenham Foods.

Walters Palm Toffee: A Sweet Legacy

Walters Palm Toffee tin

Walters Palm Toffee was started in 1887 by Nathan Baraf Walters, who came from Romania. He opened a toffee factory in Poplar, London. The company's main product was called "Palm Toffee" because it used palm butter to make it.

In 1926, the company moved to a bigger factory in Acton, London. It became an official company in 1928. By 1935, about 800 people worked there. The factory was destroyed by fire that year but was rebuilt.

Nathan Walters passed away in 1957. He left his business to four charities, but his sons tried to challenge his will and lost. By 1960, the company was losing money. J A & P Holland bought it in a friendly takeover.

Fillerys Toffees: From Sweets to War Effort

Fillerys Toffees was started in 1923 in Birmingham. Their factory grew to be very large by 1927 and even worked 24 hours a day by 1930. The company became official in 1934 and had about 300 employees.

During World War II, the factory stopped making sweets and instead made things for the war. Other companies like Rowntree's made Fillerys' products under a special agreement.

Fillerys' factory was very good at making things. They got contracts to make products for big stores like Woolworths and Marks & Spencer. After sugar rationing ended in 1954, their sales boomed. But later, sales for toffee went down. In 1960, J A & P Holland bought Fillerys.

Elizabeth Shaw: Minty Beginnings

Elizabeth Joice and her husband Patrick started a small sweet business from their home in 1937. They made honeycomb mint-flavoured crisps. They named the business after Elizabeth, and "Shaw" came from her old employer, Page & Shaw.

Their sweets were soon called Mint Crisps. By 1939, they opened a new factory in Brentford called Mint House. The business kept growing and offered new products like Mint Creams.

However, a fire damaged the business in 1953. The Joices had to sell the company, and production moved to a factory in Camberley. Sadly, this new factory also had a terrible fire in 1968. After this, Cavenham Foods bought the business, and production moved to the Greenbank factory.

Hollands of Southport: The Toffee Kings

In the 1890s, John Holland found a new way to make creamy toffee. He worked from a place in Southport that his uncle, James Ford, a confectioner, had given him. Holland's most popular product was Everton Toffee.

During World War I, the company opened a new factory. In 1927, John Arthur Holland became the manager. From 1932, the business was called John Holland & Son. John Arthur Holland took charge in 1936 and promised their products were Best on Earth.

A fire damaged the factory in 1940. But after World War II, the company grew. In 1953, they started exporting to the United States for the first time. In 1952, John Arthur's sons, John Arthur Junior and Peter, took over. The company changed its name to J A & P Holland.

The company became public on the Liverpool Stock Exchange in 1953. A year later, they added an extension to their factory. The toffee market started to slow down, so the brothers decided to buy other companies.

Their first big purchase was Coq D'or Chocolates in 1959. Then came Fillerys Toffees in 1960, a company that made fancy toffees and had contracts with Marks & Spencer. Soon after, they bought Casket Confectionery and Walters Palm Toffee for £385,000.

Later that year, the company was listed on the London Stock Exchange. They had taken over more than 20 companies! In 1961, they continued to expand, buying S. Parkinson & Son, Harper Paper for £1.25 million, and others. The Daily Mail newspaper called Holland the world's biggest toffee maker. By 1965, they controlled 33 warehouses.

John Arthur Holland Junior invented a soft toffee in 1963. It was launched as Chewzits, which later became the famous Chewits. However, the company didn't pay out profits to its shareholders in 1963 or 1964 because many of its smaller companies were struggling.

The company's shareholders disagreed with the Holland family. In 1965, James Goldsmith's Cavenham Foods tried to take over the company. The Holland family fought it but eventually lost.

Cavenham Confectionery: A Sweet Empire

Carsons joined with Yeatmans (who made Goodies and Selesta sweets), J A & P Holland (Britain's biggest toffee maker), and Paramount Laboratories (who made Cadet Sweet sweet cigarettes). Together, they formed the Cavenham Confectionery part of Cavenham Foods.

Besides Famous Names, the new company also made Chewits, Hollands Toffee, Fillery's Toffee, Walters Palm Toffee, Ewbanks Liquorice, Dr Who & The Daleks Sweet Cigarettes, Royal Doncaster Butterscotch, and Parkinsons Boiled Sweets. The new company closed many of the factories it had bought. They focused production at Carsons' Greenbank site, Holland's Southport factory, and Parkinsons' Doncaster factory.

In 1967, Cavenham Foods was having financial problems. So, James Goldsmith combined Cavenham Confectionery with Perrier's sweet business. This included famous brands like Menier and Lindt. In 1968, the business sent $750,000 worth of goods to America. They also bought the brand and recipes for Elizabeth Shaw.

The partnership with Perrier ended in 1969. Cavenham Confectionery was sold to Conwood SA for £1.2 million. This company was half-owned by Cavenham Foods and Conwood Corporation. But it was soon sold back to Cavenham Foods. In 1981, the managers of Cavenham Confectionery bought the business for £8 million. This happened as James Goldsmith was breaking up Cavenham Foods. The business name changed to Famous Names Ltd.

From Famous Names to Elizabeth Shaw Today

When the management team bought the business, it controlled 44% of the UK's chocolate liqueurs market. It also had 50% of the chocolate mint market. In 1985, a big company called Imperial Group bought the business.

But in 1988, the management bought it back again. This happened after the new owners, Hanson Trust plc, sold off some businesses. They renamed the business Elizabeth Shaw Ltd and stopped using the Famous Brands name. In 1990, a Finnish sweet company called Leaf bought the business.

In March 2006, Nói Síríus, the largest sweet maker in Iceland, bought Elizabeth Shaw's chocolate business. In 2006, the company decided to move its manufacturing to other factories in the UK and Europe. This was because the old 105-year-old factory was very expensive to run. So, the factory closed.

In 2009, a Norwegian company, Imagine Capital, bought the business. Then, in 2016, Colian Holding, which is Poland's largest sweet maker, bought Elizabeth Shaw from Imagine Capital.

The Greenbank Factory Site

Elizabeth Shaw office alongside the factory in 2004

In 2013, people living nearby successfully stopped plans to turn the closed factory into flats and houses. Local residents felt the building was an important part of Bristol's industrial history. George Ferguson, who had turned an old tobacco factory into a creative arts venue, supported them.

However, by 2012, the building was still empty. No one could agree on a good plan for its future use. By late 2013, the building went back to the Clydesdale Bank. New plans were being made by the Generator Group.

In August 2014, the site's new owners, Generator South West, seemed ready to start a new project. They held a public meeting to hear what local residents thought. The plan was to create open spaces around new flats and houses.

As of 2016, there were still problems with developing the site. The developers, Generator South West, asked to be excused from a rule. This rule said that 30 to 40 percent of any new homes should be social housing. They said the extra costs of fixing up the old, historic buildings made it too expensive.

A community group called ACORN is one of the groups fighting against this change. They are campaigning for social housing because Bristol has a big housing problem and not enough affordable homes. The developers, Generator Group, worked with Bristol City Council. They made sure that 36 shared ownership homes were built alongside the private housing. The first homes ready in 2021 were shared ownership homes.

Company Records

Records about Elizabeth Shaw Limited, especially about the Greenbank factory, are kept at Bristol Archives. This collection also includes some records from other companies linked with Elizabeth Shaw Limited. These include HJ Packers, Carsons Ltd, Cavenham Confectionary Ltd, United Biscuits, Hollands Toffees, and Huhtamäki. You can find more information about these records in their online catalogue (Ref. 43258).