Requiem for Cadbury's


On Friday NAH and I visited the recently closed Cadbury's factory in Keynsham to see an exhibition about the history of the site which was on for one week only. The factory opened in the 1920s when Fry's moved out of central Bristol to a roomy country site perched next to the River Avon.

Fry's and Cadbury's are rooted deep in both NAH's and my psyche, not only for the amount of their chocolate we've eaten over the years. Peter Cadbury was in NAH's form at school and I've spent most of my life going past a Cadbury's factory every weekday. It was Bournville during my schooldays (and we could smell the chocolate roasting from there when the wind was in the right direction) and then over 20 years of commuting past the pictured factory on my way to Bristol.

We'd gone to the exhibition with that heritage in mind, but also because we find any insight into the way things work or are made is fascinating. We were expecting to be two of a handful people there, but that wasn't what we found. The car park of the company's social club was full to bursting and of the hundreds of people there, pretty much everyone apart from ourselves were dressed in their Sunday best.

It soon became clear that the majority of them were ex-employees and whilst the exhibition was fascinating, it was even more interesting to catch snatches of their reminisces. It was a matter of pride to be there and there was a great sense of community spirit around us. It was more like witnessing a family at a wake, than being at an exhibition.

There were many jovial stewards to welcome everyone and all were anxious to ensure we went downstairs afterwards to have a drink and to collect our free chocolate. The bar was open and many were nursing a pint or having a glass of wine. We had mugs of frothy hot chocolate and sat looking at our Crunchie bars: a palette from the last batch ever made in this country had been saved for this occasion.

Towards the end of the afternoon I went outside to take some pictures of the now redundant factory site. There were a few people in there: occasionally one of them would emerge from the entrance like a ghost and sometimes I would glimpse the security guard on his rounds. It seemed apt somehow to take photos of this place in the freezing cold and dying sun.

I took my Crunchie bar home where it still sits on the table in the kitchen. There will be Crunchie bars in the future: they'll be from Poland from now on. Somehow I don't feel ready to eat my last British one yet. It feels a little like cannibalism.


A statue of Peter Pan presented by Fry's employees to the Fry family on the occasion of the firm's bicentenary in 1928. Peter Pan was chosen to represent 'the factory that will never die'.

Comments

  1. Janet/Plantaliscious31 January 2011 at 11:52

    Truly the end of an era. Though marking the passing with a crunchie bar wouldn't have been my choice, never liked them! Borunville, however...

    Sad to lose such an iconic company that had such a good community policy.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown31 January 2011 at 15:29

    A lovely and moving tribute, VP. We lost our Moirs Pot of Gold factory a couple of years ago; it had been bought by Hershey a few years previous, and then they moved to Mexico. I have never bought anything made by Hersheys since then, and never will. But I do still look for Cadbury chocolate, even though it's not the same. I love crunchy bars, but I usually buy locally made sponge tofffee if that totally decadent craving hits me...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Arabella Sock31 January 2011 at 16:17

    "Huts, whole naval huts
    Cavalry take em and they cover them with chocolate!"

    That is the punchline to a very long and not very funny shaggy dog story joke. Anyone else remember it?

    It's a shame they gave you Crunchies - I would say that was my least favourite Cadbury's chocolate. Although any chocolate is obviously better than nothin!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hermes31 January 2011 at 18:14

    Very sad is a polite way of putting it really.

    ReplyDelete
  5. VP1 February 2011 at 08:12

    Plantaliscious - well it was Friday, so getting a Crunchie bar was most apt ;)

    Jodi - I used to work with people in the US and they always asked us to bring Cadbury's chocolate over for them as they hated Hershey's. Sponge toffee's called cinder toffee over here and it's one of NAH's favourites.

    Arabella - no, I don't remember that one ;)

    Hermes - I felt sad all weekend, so had to get it out my system a bit

    ReplyDelete
  6. Zyzzyz1 February 2011 at 08:52

    So many iconic companies biting the dust.

    ReplyDelete
  7. VP10 February 2011 at 14:26

    WDP - welcome. So true - I heard today listed building status is being sought for the Cadbury's site.

    ReplyDelete

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