Elizabeth Shaw (confectionery company)

Did You Know?

• Ewbanks, originally Firth Confectioners, was founded in 1810 as Pontefract's second liquorice factory making Pontefract cakes.
• S. Parkinson & Sons of Doncaster is reputed to have invented butterscotch in 1848.
• Yeatman & Co, established in 1857, produced the first sweets for Marks & Spencer.

History of H J Packer & Carsons

Edward Packer founded the business in 1881 at Armoury Square, Bristol, joined by his sister and brother. In 1884 the family took on H. J. Burrows, forming H. J. Packer & Co, but the partnership dissolved within a year and Burrows became sole owner. He sold the business for £950 to Caleb Bruce Cole the following year. Sales grew sharply from 1894, prompting a move in 1901 to a purpose-built factory in Greenbank.

Between 1903 and 1912 sales rose 250%, helped by Two ounces per penny quality chocolates for children and lines like Packers Chocolate Mixers. In 1908 the company bought Glasgow-based Carsons, a high-end chocolate maker, and created the Bonds of Bristol brand for luxury products. Carsons' Glasgow factory closed and production moved to Shortwood, near Mangotsfield. By the early 1920s the firm was Britain's fourth-largest chocolate manufacturer with over 2,000 employees, introducing Milk Crispets.

Carsons Chocolate accompanied Sir Ernest Shackleton on his expeditions. The company declined by World War II, relaunched the Packers brand in 1955 with Summit chocolate bars and penny sweets like White Mice and Sweet cigarettes. In 1961 Carsons production moved to Greenbank; Carsons was the largest British maker of chocolate liqueurs under Famous Names. H J Packer was renamed Carsons Ltd in 1962 but remained unprofitable, losing £39,000 by 1963. James Goldsmith acquired the company in 1964 for Cavenham Foods.

History of Hollands of Southport

John Holland learned the confectionery trade as an apprentice to his uncle James Ford, a confectioner in Ormskirk. In the 1890s, Ford gave Holland premises at 23a Cross Street in Southport, where Holland devised a new method for making creamy toffee. His most popular item was Everton Toffee. During World War I, the company opened a new factory on Virginia Street.

John Arthur Holland took over as factory manager in 1927, and from 1932 the business operated as John Holland & Son. He assumed full control in 1936 and introduced the slogan Best on Earth. A fire damaged the factory in 1940, but after the war the firm grew, beginning exports to the United States in 1953. In 1952, John Arthur's sons, John Arthur Junior and Peter, took charge and renamed the company J A & P Holland.

The business went public on the Liverpool Stock Exchange in 1953, and the Virginia Street factory gained an extension the following year. As the toffee market shrank, the brothers decided to buy competitors. Their first acquisition was Coq D'or Chocolates in 1959, followed by Fillerys Toffees in 1960—a high-end maker with a contract with Marks & Spencer—then Casket Confectionery and London-based Walters Palm Toffee for £385,000. Later that year, the company listed on the London Stock Exchange, having absorbed over 20 firms.

In 1961, it purchased S. Parkinson & Son, Harper Paper for £1.25 million, Mackay Brothers of Edinburgh, and George & Son of Southend-on-Sea. The Daily Mail called Holland the world's largest toffee manufacturer, and by 1965 it ran 33 wholesaling warehouses. John Arthur Holland Junior invented a soft toffee in 1963, launched as Chewzits. The company paid no dividends in 1963 or 1964, and many subsidiaries struggled.

Independent shareholders clashed with the Holland family, and in 1965 James Goldsmith's Cavenham Foods launched a takeover bid that the Hollands fought but ultimately lost.

Cavenham Confectionery Ltd

Cavenham Confectionery was created within Cavenham Foods by merging Carsons with Yeatmans, J A & P Holland, and Paramount Laboratories. Its product range included Famous Names, Chewits, Hollands Toffee, Fillery's Toffee, Walters Palm Toffee, Ewbanks Liquorice, Dr Who & The Daleks Sweet Cigarettes, Royal Doncaster Butterscotch, and Parkinsons Boiled Sweets. Production was consolidated at Carsons' Greenbank site, Holland's Southport location, and Parkinsons' Doncaster factory, with many other factories closed.

In 1967, facing financial trouble, Cavenham Foods' James Goldsmith formed a 50/50 partnership between Cavenham Confectionery and Perrier's confectionery business, which held the Menier and Lindt brands. The following year, the company exported $750,000 worth of goods to America and acquired the Elizabeth Shaw brand and its recipes. The Perrier partnership ended in 1969, and Cavenham Confectionery was sold to Conwood SA for £1.2 million—a firm owned equally by Cavenham Foods and Conwood Corporation—but was quickly bought back by Cavenham Foods.

In 1981, as part of Goldsmith's breakup of Cavenham Foods, management purchased the business for £8 million and renamed it Famous Names Ltd.

Greenbank factory site

After the factory closed in 2006, local residents opposed the initial redevelopment plan for flats and houses, arguing the building represented Bristol's industrial heritage. George Ferguson supported the opposition, having earlier turned a defunct tobacco factory in Bedminster into the Tobacco Factory arts venue. By 2012 the building stood empty after all parties failed to deliver an acceptable solution. An archived community group website holds more information.

In late 2013 the building reverted to Clydesdale Bank, and the Generator Group planned developments. In August 2014 Generator South West submitted a plan for open spaces around flats and housing. By 2016 developers Generator South West asked to be excused from the legal obligation to include 30 to 40 percent social housing, citing extra costs of restoring historic buildings. Community action group ACORN campaigned against this backtracking amid Bristol's housing crisis.

Generator Group worked with Bristol City Council to create 36 shared ownership homes alongside private housing. The first homes for occupation in 2021 were shared ownership. Information about the plan for the undeveloped 1950s factory block is available on the city council planning archive.