HB Ice Cream Facts for Kids

HB Ice Cream is a popular ice cream brand in Ireland. It is part of a bigger ice cream family called Heartbrand, which is owned by a large company named Unilever. The name HB originally came from "Hughes Brothers" and "Hazelbrook Farm."

HB makes many of the Heartbrand ice creams you might know. They also create special ice creams just for the Irish market. One example is the Hazelbrook Farm range of ice cream blocks. In Northern Ireland, you can find both HB and Wall's ice cream. Wall's is the name for Heartbrand ice cream in the United Kingdom. Sometimes, HB and Wall's are even promoted together as "HB Wall's."

The Story of HB Ice Cream

HB Ice Cream began a long time ago in 1926. It was started by three brothers, James, George, and William Hughes. Their company was called Hughes Brothers. They started at Hazelbrook Farm in a place called Churchtown, Dublin. The name "Hazelbrook Farm" was not used for a while during World War II. But it came back in the late 1980s. From 2002 to 2005, it was called "HB Originals."

In 1964, the part of HB that delivered milk moved to another company. Later, in 1973, the rest of HB became part of Unilever. HB also used to make other sweet treats like sweets and chocolate. In 2002 and 2003, they even made frozen yogurt.

In 2003, the HB Ice Cream factory in Churchtown closed down. This meant that the ice cream was no longer made there. An old farmhouse belonging to the Hughes family, called Hazelbrook House, was moved in 2001. You can now see it at Bunratty Folk Park, where it is open for people to visit.

HB Ice Cream on TV

In 2016, HB Ice Cream celebrated its 90th birthday! To mark this special occasion, many old HB television adverts from as far back as 1961 were shown on TV again. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, some popular sayings in their adverts included "Two Letters Spell Ireland's Favourite Ice Cream." In the mid-1980s, they used the phrase "Still The Favourite."

Some of HB's adverts were also used for other ice cream brands. For example, they were used for Wall's in England and Miko in France. These are all sister brands under the same big company. On April 26, 2017, many of the old adverts from the 1960s and 1970s became available to watch online. They are kept safe at the Irish Film Archive.

HB Ice Cream facts for kids

The Story of HB Ice Cream

HB Ice Cream on TV

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