Ewbanks Liquorice

History of H J Packer & Carsons

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

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 and created the Bonds of Bristol brand for luxury chocolates. Carsons' Glasgow factory closed and production moved to Shortwood, near Mangotsfield. By the early 1920s the company was Britain's fourth-largest chocolate manufacturer with over 2,000 employees, introducing Milk Crispets.

Carsons Chocolate was taken by Sir Ernest Shackleton on his expeditions. The company's fortunes declined by the start of World War II. In 1955 the Packers brand was relaunched with Summit chocolate bars and penny sweets such as White Mice and Sweet cigarettes. Carsons' production moved to Greenbank in 1961.

Carsons was the largest British manufacturer of chocolate liqueurs under the Famous Brands name. In 1962 H. J. Packer was renamed Carsons Ltd, but the company remained unprofitable, losing £39,000 by 1963. James Goldsmith acquired the company in 1964, making it part of Cavenham Foods.

History of Hollands of Southport

John Holland, having trained as a confectioner under his uncle James Ford in Ormskirk, developed a new technique for making creamy toffee in the 1890s. He operated from a Cross Street property in Southport that Ford had given him, and his most popular item became Everton Toffee. During World War I, the company opened a factory on Virginia Street. John Arthur Holland took over as factory manager in 1927, and the business began trading as John Holland & Son in 1932.

He assumed full control in 1936 and introduced the slogan Best on Earth. A fire damaged the site in 1940, but the firm expanded after the war, starting exports to the United States in 1953. The year before, John Arthur’s sons, John Arthur Junior and Peter, had taken over, and the company was renamed J A & P Holland. It went public on the Liverpool Stock Exchange in 1953, and added an extension to the Virginia Street factory in 1954.

As the toffee market shrank, the brothers bought competitors: Coq D’or Chocolates in 1959, Fillerys Toffees in 1960, then Casket Confectionery and Walters Palm Toffee for £385,000. That same year, the company listed on the London Stock Exchange, having acquired over twenty 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 declared it the world’s largest toffee manufacturer, and by 1965 it ran 33 wholesale warehouses.

John Arthur Holland Junior invented a soft toffee in 1963, launched as Chewzits and later rebranded Chewits. The company paid no dividends in 1963 or 1964, as many subsidiaries struggled. Disagreements between independent shareholders and the Holland family led to a takeover bid by James Goldsmith’s Cavenham Foods in 1965, which the family resisted but ultimately lost.

Cavenham Confectionery Ltd

Cavenham Confectionery was created when Carsons, Yeatmans, J A & P Holland, and Paramount Laboratories came together under Cavenham Foods. Its product lineup 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 by shutting many subsidiary factories and focusing on Carsons' Greenbank site, Holland's Southport plant, and Parkinsons' Doncaster factory.

In 1967, with Cavenham Foods struggling financially, James Goldsmith formed a 50/50 joint venture between Cavenham Confectionery and Perrier's confectionery arm, which owned Menier and Lindt. The following year, the business 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 equally owned by Cavenham Foods and Conwood Corporation—but was quickly bought back by Cavenham Foods.

In 1981, as James Goldsmith dismantled Cavenham Foods, the business's management bought it for £8 million and renamed it Famous Names Ltd.

Greenbank factory site

After the factory closed in 2006, the initial developer's plan for redevelopment into flats and houses was successfully opposed. Local residents considered the building part of Bristol's industrial heritage. The opposition was supported by George Ferguson, whose vision had turned a defunct tobacco factory in Bedminster into the Tobacco Factory, a leading artistic and creative venue. As of 2012 the building stood empty after all parties failed to deliver an acceptable solution for the site's future use.

An archived community group website holds more information. By late 2013 the building had reverted to Clydesdale Bank, and developments were being planned by the Generator Group. In August 2014 Generator South West submitted a plan for open spaces around a development of flats and housing. As of 2016 there had been many problems, including Generator South West asking to be excused from the legal obligation that 30 to 40 per cent of any development be social housing, citing the extra costs of restoring historic buildings.

Community action group ACORN campaigned against this backtracking due to the housing crisis in Bristol. Generator Group worked with Bristol City Council to ensure 36 shared ownership homes were created alongside private housing. The first homes for occupation in 2021 were shared ownership. Information about the plan for the undeveloped 1950s factory block can be found in the city council planning archive.