Maypole Dairy Company facts for kids
The Maypole Dairy Company was a very popular chain of shops in Britain a long time ago. They became one of the biggest employers in the country! Maypole Dairies were famous for being the first to sell a lot of margarine to people, which was a cheaper choice instead of butter. At first, they called it "Butterine," but after some legal issues, it was known as margarine from 1887.
Their company logo showed young people dancing around a maypole, which is a tall pole decorated with ribbons, often used in spring celebrations.
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How Maypole Dairies Started
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The Maypole Dairy story began in Birmingham with the Watson family. They had been in the dairy business for many years. In 1859, George Jackson started a company called Medova Dairies with the Watson brothers.
Later, one of the brothers, George Watson, wanted to sell margarine. When the others disagreed, he started his own company in 1887. He called it Maypole Dairies. His main shop was in Wolverhampton.
The family decided to work together again in 1898. They kept both the Maypole and Medova names. By 1905, Maypole Dairies had grown a lot, with 105 shops. They were a well-known name in many big cities like London, Manchester, and Glasgow.
What Maypole Dairies Sold
Maypole Dairies had strong connections to Denmark. Many of their products came from there. Their main items were butter, cheese, margarine, eggs, and condensed milk. Interestingly, they didn't sell fresh milk! By 1873, they were bringing in 30,000 tons of Danish butter every year.
The company sold many products at very low prices. This made them popular in working-class areas. By 1915, they had 985 shops. In 1926, they opened their 1000th shop, making them the biggest company in Britain at that time. Besides their shops, they owned creameries (places where dairy products are made) in Ireland and England. They also had offices in Denmark and Sweden to help get supplies.
In 1902, Maypole Dairies bought a margarine factory in Godley, Greater Manchester. This factory made 200 tons of margarine every week! By 1912, the company was earning a lot of money, about £550,000 each year.
Margarine and World War I
Maypole Dairies focused on selling margarine. They became the biggest producer in the UK, supplying one-third of all margarine by 1914. Unlike other companies that used animal products, Maypole's margarine was made from groundnut oil (peanut oil) from West Africa.
The First World War caused big problems for the company. It was hard to get supplies of oils from Africa. Food rationing also hurt their business. Maypole even sold their factory in Manchester to Lever Brothers.
In 1915, they bought a huge margarine factory in Southall from Otto Monsted to try and make up for their losses. This was the biggest margarine factory in the world! It had 650 workers and made 35,000 tons of margarine each year. They also bought an oil refinery in Erith in eastern London. By 1918, the Southall factory was making an amazing 100,000 tons of margarine every year. By this time, margarine made up 85% of all Maypole's sales.
Challenges and End of an Era
In the 1920s, other companies like Blue Band margarines started selling their products at lower prices. This made it harder for Maypole to make a profit. In 1924, the Watson family sold most of their shares to another company called Home and Colonial Stores. In 1925, they started selling lard too.
Even with the challenges, the Maypole Dairy name kept growing because customers liked it. In 1928, they reached their highest number of stores: 1040 shops and 18 creameries.
In 1929, the huge Southall factory was sold to "Wall's." This company then used it to make sausages and ice-cream.
Sir William George Watson, who was the company chairman, passed away in 1930. In 1931, their peanut farms in West Africa were sold.
By 1939, the number of Maypole stores had dropped to 977. World War II rationing meant they had to change what they sold even more.
The Maypole brand continued until 1964. Then, it joined with other companies to form Allied Suppliers. A central office was created in London. The very last Maypole Dairy shop closed in 1970.
Today, you can sometimes still see the Maypole Dairy name on old tile-work at shop entrances. The rights to the Maypole Dairy brand name are now owned by Morrisons supermarkets.
Fun Facts
- The Maypole factory in Southall gave its name to a road called Margarine Road. It was later renamed Bridge Road.
- In an old movie called The Magnet, one scene takes place in a Maypole Dairies shop in Liverpool!
Images for kids
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Entrance to a former Maypole Dairy shop in Edinburgh
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A container for lard from Maypole Dairy Co. around 1900
