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The first
thirty years of Lyons' growth had been
nothing short of sensational. From a
catering organisation they had become a
major national food manufacturer. From an
early period they had diversified into
tea, coffee, cocoa, ice-cream,
confectionery and other food products.
With this diversification, and increasing
sales growth in all, the limited capacity
of the Cadby Hall estate threatened their
future prospects. The solution was to
relocate these subsidiary operations to
another location where, if it became
necessary, there would be sufficient
capacity to expand. The movement of tea
and coffee production away from Cadby Hall
would also have the benefit of releasing
factory space for the even faster growth
of bakery goods.
During the
First World War there had been a growth of
industries along the short section of the
Grand Union Canal north-westward from
Brentford Dock to a village called
Greenford Green, Middlesex. Situated west
of London, Greenford combined a mixture of
idyllic countryside and industrial works
and Lyons decided to settle here in 1919.
Although Greenford was considered somewhat
remote, Lyons had chosen the site
carefully. They must have been aware of
the plans for the Western Avenue
roadworks, giving access to West London
and this work continued throughout the
1920s. Likewise the first stretch of the
Great West Road, further south,
immeasurably improved communications from
Greenford to the west when the first
section was completed in 1925. In
addition, the Grand Union Canal ran though
the property, connecting Greenford with
the Thames, and thence to London Docks,
where tea and other imported materials
were off-loaded from freighters. More
importantly perhaps the Great Western
Railway was already in operation to the
west country and ran alongside the
property which enabled Lyons to build
their own railway sidings. The London
Underground system was being pushed
westwards and had reached Ealing Broadway
by 1879, Park Royal by 1903, and Acton by
1923.
By 1921
the first factory buildings and site
transport infrastructure were in place;
these included private railway sidings,
facilitating the movement of products from
the factory to the railway networks via
the Great Western Railway. One of the
largest junctions in the country,
Willesden, was just to the north. A canal
basin was built enabling several barges to
be unloaded simultaneously. After
unloading the bulk tea and other
commodities were stored under excise
control before being released into the
various factories for use in tea blends,
coffee and chocolate goods.
Utilising
the latest technology in factory
automation, the Greenford factory became a
manufacturing showplace drawing many
distinguished visitors from home and
abroad; the directors even organised an
inspection by King George V and his Queen.
The management were eager to show visitors
the new overhead mechanical equipment used
for unloading the barges, the busy
tea-loading rail and road dock and the
impressive 'hall' for blending and packing
tea. The official opening of the factory
in July 1921 coincided with an improvement
in the market for tea, and by the end of
1921 tea sales equalled pre-war peaks
helped no doubt by the acquisition of
Horniman's. In the late 1920s the
Greenford factory handled over 446 tons of
tea per week, distributing their packaged
blends to over 200,000 outlets throughout
the country by road and rail.
The main
factory buildings were single story and
known affectionately as 'saw-tooth' after
the zigzag shape of their roof which
allowed light to enter the production
areas. Full electricity was laid on for
evening and night shifts. The areas not
used for buildings was landscaped and
trees and roses were in abundance. A staff
canteen was provided as were medical and
other facilities. Railway tracks
criss-crossed the property and Lyons had
their own railway shunting engines to move
rolling stock from factory loading bays to
the Great Western track which ran
alongside the property. Overhead gantries
complemented the railway system.
Very
rapidly the liquid and ground coffee lines
were expanded as were the confectionery
and grocery lines (tomato sauce, salad
cream, jellies, custard powder and mixes).
When the property became available on the
north side of the Grand Union Canal in
1926 this too was purchased for future
expansion. It remained unused for many
years and at one time during the Second
World War it was used to rear battery
chickens, a method of breeding now
considered deplorable. In 1954 the most
northern part of this new property
acquisition was used to build a new
ice-cream factory which became known as
Bridge Park. This became one of Lyons'
largest ice-cream factories and was
continuously expanded and updated to meet
new ice-cream lines. In 1967/8 a new tea
warehouse and distribution centre was
built on the remaining parcel of land
which was sandwiched between the north
side of the canal and the southern
boundary of the Bridge Park factory. Both
the new tea warehouse and Bridge Park
factory had their own entrances onto
Oldfield Lane North; the former being
known as Auriol Drive. Although the Bridge
Park factory and tea warehouse properties
abutted, their was no official access from
one to the other except by Oldfield Lane
North.
The
Greenford tea factory too was continually
modified especially after the Second World
War when tea-bags and instant coffee began
to grow in popularity. Many grocery lines
were phased out during the war but new
ones were introduced most notably Ready
Brek. This was an instant cereal product
that had been developed almost by accident
during the war years and became very
popular with the young when it was
introduced in the 1950s. In the 1960s and
1970s packet tea became less popular and
Greenford increasingly produced more
tea-bags. By now the Tea Division had
become a wholly owned subsidiary and were
making 'nice' profits. With increasing
numbers of clerical and administration
staff, largely brought about by
de-centralisation, it became necessary to
build a new administration block which
opened in 1971.
By 1995
the tea business was sold to a management
team backed by venture capitalists and
much of the Greenford site was vacated
under the terms of the purchase. The
Bridge Park ice-cream business was sold in
1992. In 1997 Allied Domecq plc (the
parent company of J. Lyons & Co Ltd)
entered into an agreement with Salmon
Harvester Properties Ltd for the phased
disposal of the Greenford estate. This
started in 1998 and by 2002 was all but
completed.
©
Peter
Bird 2002
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