Somerdale Factory
Encyclopedia
Chocolate
Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...
factory
Factory
A factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where laborers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production...
located in Keynsham
Keynsham
Keynsham is a town and civil parish between Bristol and Bath in Somerset, south-west England. It has a population of 15,533.It was listed in the Domesday Book as Cainesham, which is believed to mean the home of Saint Keyne....
near Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
in south west England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It was the home of a Cadbury plc's production facility, and was originally built by the Fry family
J. S. Fry & Sons
J. S. Fry & Sons, Ltd. was a British chocolate company owned by Joseph Storrs Fry and his family.This business moved through several names and hands before ending up as J. S. Fry & Sons.- History :*circa 1759 — Joseph Fry starts making chocolate...
when they expanded through consolidation of a number of existing facilities located in the centre of Bristol.
History
After the First World War, Cadbury Brothers undertook a financial merger with J. S. Fry & SonsJ. S. Fry & Sons
J. S. Fry & Sons, Ltd. was a British chocolate company owned by Joseph Storrs Fry and his family.This business moved through several names and hands before ending up as J. S. Fry & Sons.- History :*circa 1759 — Joseph Fry starts making chocolate...
, which completed in 1919. As a result of the merger, Egbert Cadbury
Egbert Cadbury
Air Commodore Sir Egbert Cadbury DSC, DFC was a First World War pilot who shot down two Zeppelins over the North Sea: L21 on 28 November 1916, and L70 on 6 August 1918: the latter while flying a De Havilland DH.4 with Robert Leckie as Observer/Gunner.The son of George Cadbury and Dame Elizabeth...
joined the Fry side of the business. Along with Cecil Roderick Fry
Cecil Roderick Fry
Cecil Roderick Fry was a member of the Fry family who ran the J. S. Fry & Sons confectionery business after World War I....
he was instrumental in the relocation and of the Bristol operations of Fry from Union Street to a 228 acre (0.92268408 km²) greenfield site called Somerdale Garden City, after a national competition in 1923.
As Quakers, the factory was built with social facilities, including playing fields and a large recreational sports grounds, which still today serves the town of Keynsham. This transfer took 11 years as production was gradually transferred as the modern blocks erected. Finally completed in 1935, at its height the Somerdale workforce was in excess of 5,000. It had its own power station and railway, with connection to the Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
via sidings at Keynsham railway station
Keynsham railway station
Keynsham railway station serves the town of Keynsham in Bath and North East Somerset. It is located on the London-Bristol and Bristol-Southampton trunk routes and was opened on the 31st of August 1840 with the completion of the Great Western Railway line between Bristol and Bath...
. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, with chocolate production reduced due to war time rationing
Rationing
Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, or services. Rationing controls the size of the ration, one's allotted portion of the resources being distributed on a particular day or at a particular time.- In economics :...
, spare floor capacity was taken over by Rolls Royce
Rolls-Royce Limited
Rolls-Royce Limited was a renowned British car and, from 1914 on, aero-engine manufacturing company founded by Charles Stewart Rolls and Henry Royce on 15 March 1906 as the result of a partnership formed in 1904....
to produce Merlin engines.
Previously, Keynsham Cadbury was the home of Fry's Chocolate Cream
Fry's Chocolate Cream
Fry's Cream is a chocolate bar made by Cadbury's, and formerly by J. S. Fry & Sons. It consists of a fondant centre enrobed in dark chocolate and is available in a plain version, and also peppermint or orange fondant...
, the Double Decker
Double Decker (chocolate bar)
Double Decker is a brand of chocolate bar currently manufactured by Cadbury. First introduced in 1976, its name derives from the double-decker bus....
, Dairy Milk
Dairy Milk
Dairy Milk is a brand of milk chocolate currently manufactured by Cadbury; except in the United States where it is made by The Hershey Company. It was introduced in the United Kingdom in 1905 and now consists of a number of products...
, Chocolate Buttons, Cream Eggs and Mini Eggs, Cadbury's Fudge
Cadbury's Fudge
Fudge is a brand of chocolate bar currently manufactured by Cadbury. It is a bar of fudge in a semi-circular cross-section covered in a layer of milk chocolate. Produced in small bite size bars and in larger bars, the Fudge continues to be produced and sold in countries such as the United Kingdom...
, Chomp and Crunchie
Crunchie
Crunchie is a brand of chocolate bar with a "honeycombed" sugar centre. It is made by Cadbury UK and was originally launched by J. S. Fry & Sons in 1929...
. According to Cadbury Employees (or 'Chocolate Welders' as they are locally known), the Crunchie Machine makes enough bars to stretch to The Moon and back every week.
On 3 October 2007, Cadbury announced plans to close the Somerdale plant by 2010 with the loss of some 500 jobs. In an effort to maintain competitiveness in a global marketplace, production has been moved to a sister factory in Skarbimierz
Skarbimierz, Opole Voivodeship
Skarbimierz is a village in Brzeg County, Opole Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of the gmina called Gmina Skarbimierz...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. Another motivational factor was the high real estate value of the land. In the longer term it is likely the largely greenfield site will be re-classified and provide Keynsham with much needed additional housing. Labour MP for Wansdyke, Dan Norris
Dan Norris
Dan Norris is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Wansdyke from 1997 until 2010. He was also a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs....
said "news of the factory's closure is a hard and heavy blow, not just to the workforce, but to the Keynsham community as a whole".
In late 2007 campaigns to save the Cadbury's Factory in Somerdale were in full swing. One local resident started a campaign to urge English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
to protect the site, and preserve the history of the factory. If successful this campaign is hoped to stop the land being sold for housing, and the historic Somerdale factory being destroyed.
In February 2010, following the takeover of Cadbury plc by Kraft Foods
Kraft Foods
Kraft Foods Inc. is an American confectionery, food and beverage conglomerate. It markets many brands in more than 170 countries. 12 of its brands annually earn more than $1 billion worldwide: Cadbury, Jacobs, Kraft, LU, Maxwell House, Milka, Nabisco, Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia, Trident, Tang...
, the closure was confirmed to take place in 2011, and production of Cadbury products in that factory will be moved to Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. Production of all Cadbury products however, are promised to not move entirely out of the United Kingdom. The factory closed on 31 March 2011, after which machinery was shipped to Poland.
Roman villa
The remains of a small Roman villaRoman villa
A Roman villa is a villa that was built or lived in during the Roman republic and the Roman Empire. A villa was originally a Roman country house built for the upper class...
, about 50 feet square, are in the grounds of Somerdale Factory, near the main road entrance to the site. The remains were discovered during the construction of the factory in 1922, and moved to the present site. The discovery included two stone coffins.