END OF THE END FOR HP

This week sees another famous British manufacturer disappear from the Birmingham skyline. HP Sauce has been produced in Aston since 1903, but in May 2006 its current owners Heinz – having only purchased the company less than a year earlier – decided it would be cheaper to produce the sauce abroad. A campaign to save the 125 jobs and preserve a great British breakfast favourite failed to persuade the global giant to reconsider and production at the factory ceased last March. On Monday 2nd July the bulldozers moved in on the Aston site and demolition commenced. The famous HP tower, a prominent fixture on the skyline north-east of the city centre, will not be exempt from the destruction and will be demolished in place of another lifeless business park.

HP Sauce was created by a Nottingham grocer called Frederick Gibson Garton and he gave it its name in 1896 after he had been told it was being served up in the Houses of Parliament. The Palace of Westminster subsequently appeared on every bottle, yet despite this intrinsically British design the famous brown sauce will continue to bear the image whilst it is produced in the Netherlands and then imported to Britain! Our message is simple – hit Heinz where it hurts and boycott their products!




Denis Adams (East Birmingham BNP organizer) gives a sombre message outside the HP factory