Peek Freans
This article needs additional citations for verification. (November 2010) |
Company type | Public |
---|---|
Industry | Food |
Founded | 1857 |
Defunct | 26 May 1989 |
Fate | Company defunct, became a brand |
Headquarters | , United Kingdom |
Owner |
|
Peek Freans is the name of a former
History
James Peek (1800–1879) was one of three brothers born in Dodbrooke, Devon, to a well-off family.[1] In 1821, the three brothers founded a tea importation company, established as Peek Brothers and Co., in the East End of London.[1] By the 1840s, the company was importing £5 million of tea per annum.[1]
In 1824, Peek married Elizabeth Masters (1799–1867). The couple had eight children.
Establishment
The partners registered their business in 1857 as Peek, Frean & Co. Ltd, based in a disused sugar refinery on Mill Street in Dockhead, South East London,
From 1861, Peek, Frean & Co. Ltd started exporting biscuits to
Biscuit Town
In 1865, Peek agreed with Carr that the business needed bigger premises. In exchange for a stake in the business, Carr gave the company 10 acres (4.0 ha) of market gardens he had recently bought on Clements Road and Drummond Road, Bermondsey.[1] Commissioning a new integrated factory, its resultant scale and sweet-emanating smell resulted in Bermondsey gaining the nickname "Biscuit Town".[1][2][3] The opening of the factory coincided in 1866 with James Peek stepping down from the business, installing his son-in-law Thomas Stone in his place.[1]
On 23 April 1873, the old Dockhead factory burnt down in a spectacular fire,[1] which brought the Prince of Wales out on a London Fire Brigade horse-drawn water pump to view the resulting explosions.[1]
James Peek died aged 79 at his home in Watcombe near
In 1906, the Peek, Frean and Co. factory in Bermondsey was the subject of one of the earliest
In 1924, the company established their first factory outside the UK, in
After 126 years, the London factory was closed by then owner BSN on Wednesday 26 May 1989.[1] The closing down of the factory in Bermondsey was the subject of the 1988 documentary film Old Ways New Ways made by local, independent filmmakers Sands Films, directed by Olivier Stockman.[5]
Left derelict for a long period, the former premises were eventually redeveloped into what today is called the Tower Bridge Business Complex.[1] One of the streets near the site of the factory is still called Frean Street, after the company's co-founder. In 2020, plans to redevelop the former Biscuit Town site as build-to-rent (BTR) housing were announced, with a £500m, 1600-home BTR scheme given planning permission in March 2024.[6]
In late 2011, a tinned
Innovation
From the outset of its establishment, the company produced what were then the established form of biscuits in the Commonwealth countries, a hard, square, pin-pricked (known as "docker-holes", introduced by the baker to stop the biscuit expanding like a bread) dry style, suitable for storage on ships in passage due to its longevity.[1] However, Carr brought his knowledge of both the Scottish cake-like tradition (i.e., shortbread), and experience during his apprenticeship of Dutch sweet and soft cookies. With James Peek still viewing the business as a complementary and co-marketing opportunity to the families tea company, they began introducing sweetened product lines:[1]
- 1861: sweet fruit-filled biscuit, the Garibaldi, named after Italian general Giuseppe Garibaldi who toured the UK in 1854.[8]
- 1865: a soft biscuit, the "Pearl". This was the first soft-biscuit introduced by a UK-based manufacturer
- 1875: the "Marie", an Anglicised version of the Galletas Marías
- 1899: the first chocolate covered sweet digestive biscuit, marketed as the "Chocolate Table"
- 1902: "Pat-a-Cake" shortbread
- 1909: the "Golden Puff"
- 1910: a biscuit with crème filling, launched as the "Creola", now known as the Bourbon biscuit
- 1912: the "Shortcake"
- 1923: the "Glaxo"
- 1930s: Cheeselets and Twiglets introduced, with the latter developed in Canada[dubious – discuss][citation needed]
Like many good employers of the Victorian age, the company developed an enlightened paternalistic approach, giving many innovative benefits to its employees.[1] At its Biscuit Town factory, much like a mini-town, as well as having: an on-site bank, post office and fire station; employees and their families had free-to-use access to on-site medical, dental and optical services.[1] The original contracted hours were 68 across a Monday-Saturday double-shift pattern, but these were reduced from 1868 without a reduction in pay, noted as highly beneficial by Henry Mayhew.[1] The directors wanted to ensure that the workers indulged in "virtuous pursuits",[vague][clarification needed] and so formed the first of the company paid-for societies, included: a cricket club (1868); musical society (1907); and athletic and dramatic societies (both 1908).[1] Post-World War I, the company set up a tribunal, through which workers could freely express and debate their concerns. This resulted in the company giving its employees a pension plan, plus a week's paid holiday per year.[1]
Associated Biscuit Manufacturers
In 1921, Peek Frean entered into an amalgamation agreement with rival biscuit firm Huntley & Palmers, resulting in the creation of a holding company, Associated Biscuit Manufacturers Ltd (ABM).[1] However, both biscuit firms retained their own brands and premises. Jacob's joined the conglomerate from 1961. English Biscuit Manufacturers (EBM) was established in Pakistan as a local joint-venture production company from 1965, which still owns the various brand rights in the country.[9]
During the course of its life, the firm's brand name changed from Peek, Frean and Co. to Peek Frean (in the early twentieth century) and then to Peek Freans (by the 1970s, the name having been used in the possessive case on products for many years).
In the 1970's Peek Freans were advertised with the popular jingle, "Peek Freans are a Very Serious Cookie."[10]
Present
The company was broken apart from 1982, after
In 2017, the Peek Frean trademark was acquired by the great-great-great-grandson of Francis Peek, the first Chairman of Peek Frean and the son of James Peek.[12]
See also
- English Biscuit Manufacturers
- Burton's Foods
- Fox's Biscuits
- Tunnock's
References
- ^ ISBN 9780752487281.
- ^ "Peek Frean's Biscuit Factory in Bermondsey, London". Retrieved 23 September 2014.
- ^ "Biscuit Factory Makes 'Comeback'". BBC News. 8 February 2005. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
- ^ "A Visit to Peek Frean and Co.'s Biscuit Works". Cricks and Sharp. 1906. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
- ^ "Old Ways, New Ways". British Universities Film & Video Council.
- ^ Morby, Aaron (11 March 2024). "Go-ahead for 1,600 rental homes for London biscuit factory". Construction Enquirer. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
- ^ "Christmas pudding found in Poole after 112 years". BBC News. 2 November 2011. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
- ^ "The Kitchen Thinker: Garibaldi biscuits".
- ^ English Biscuit Manufacturers Archived 2010-08-10 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Peek Freans Cookie Commercial (1979) - YouTube". YouTube.
- ^ "Danone sells its UK biscuits to United". The Independent. 24 July 2004. Archived from the original on 27 December 2007. Retrieved 12 April 2007.
- ^ "PEEK FREAN BISCUITS COULD BE BACK ON UK SHELVES NEXT YEAR". Southwark News. 7 December 2017. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
External links
- Peek Freans history Archived 2009-02-15 at the Wayback Machine
- Southwark Council Blue Plaques 2005
- Records of Peek Frean—University of Reading
- Peek Frean Permanent Exhibition—Rotherhithe Heritage Museum, The Pumphouse Educational Museum
- A peek at Peek Freans by Will Pavia