Cadby Hall

Last updated

Cadby Hall was a major office and factory complex in Hammersmith, London which was the headquarters of catering company Joseph Lyons and Co. for almost a century. [1]

Contents

Origins

The name originated from Charles Cadby, a piano manufacturer, who purchased 8.5 acres (34,000 m2) of land along the High Road (today named Hammersmith Road) in 1874. The location had formerly been known as the Croften Estate. Cadby allocated 1.5 acres (6,100 m2) on the site for his new piano factory and showrooms, while the remaining 7 acres (28,000 m2) were set aside for smaller building plots.

Cadby Hall itself was designed by Lewis Henry Isaacs and constructed using Portland stone and red Fareham bricks, with terracotta panelling above the first floor windows, and carved portraits of famous composers. Reliefs on the sides of the entrance doorway depicted scenes celebrating music and poetry. Cadby called the building the Cadby & Company Pianoforte Manufactory. [1]

The arrangement of buildings in the complex was designed primarily to prevent the spread of fire by confining it to one building should such an incident occur.

Cadby lived for a time in what is now known as Keats House, previously owned by the poet John Keats in Hampstead. When Cadby died on 22 October 1884, the factory and all stock were sold, and subsequently a variety of businesses occupied the site between 1886 and 1893, including Kensington Co-operative Stores and the Schweppes Mineral Water Works.

J. Lyons & Co. Ltd.

By 1899, the fledgling J. Lyons company had purchased property near Cadby Hall at No. 62 Hammersmith Road, and when they subsequently took over the Hall complex itself they retained the name, although the official address of the Cadby Hall complex became 66 Hammersmith Road. In time, it became one of the largest food factories in the United Kingdom, growing to cover an area of more than 13 acres (53,000 m2). [2]

As the Lyons catering business expanded, the factory complex grew outwards from the central point of the original Cadby Hall, spreading in all directions but chiefly east and west along the Hammersmith Road, with new blocks being added as new areas of production were launched, including tea, baked goods, meat and ice cream. As part of this expansion, the company purchased the St Mary's College campus that adjoined Cadby Hall in 1922 and began using the land and property when the college moved to Strawberry Hill in 1925. [3]

Blocks were given a letter designation, with A Block being the original piano manufacturing area, which was converted into bakeries. Subsequent blocks were added to the site, and as time and production moved on throughout the 20th century, old blocks would be renovated or demolished and new ones built in their place, although the original Cadby Hall building (A Block) remained largely intact right through until the demolition of the entire complex in 1983, by which time it had become J Block.

At the peak of the Lyons operations, the stretch of land along the Hammersmith Road between Blythe Road and Brook Green became one manufacturing enclosure.

The name of Cadby Hall became so synonymous with the company that the three later overseas J. Lyons & Co. complexes in Toronto, Canada; Natal, South Africa, and Salisbury, Rhodesia (today Harare, Zimbabwe) were also named Cadby Hall.

The original Cadby Hall site in Hammersmith also earned a place in history as the birthplace of the first business computer, LEO, which Lyons developed between 1949-1951 to automate its clerical and administrative tasks. The Leo-1 computer room, which took up around 2,500 square feet of floor space at Cadby Hall, is the subject of a project at the Centre for Computing History to recreate it in virtual reality. [4]

Most famous employee

In 1951, after she had met Denis Thatcher and moved to Dartford, Margaret Thatcher was employed as a research chemist at Cadby Hall on emulsifying ice cream. [5]

Decline

By the late 1970s, J. Lyons & Co. began to decline as rapidly as it had expanded a century earlier, and in 1978 the company was taken over by Allied Breweries Ltd. Gradually, the Lyons infrastructure was sold off to pay for Allied's consolidation in the drinks industry, and the Cadby Hall complex was scaled down until the site was finally cleared in June 1983. [1]

Prior to its demolition, Cadby Hall served as a location for filming of episodes of 1970s TV action dramas The Professionals [6] [7] and The Sweeney. [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Renzo Piano</span> Italian architect (born 1937)

Renzo Piano is an Italian architect. His notable buildings include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, The Shard in London (2012), the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City (2015), İstanbul Modern in Istanbul (2022) and Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center in Athens (2016). He won the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greenford</span> Human settlement in England

Greenford is a large town in the London Borough of Ealing in west London, England, lying 11 miles (18 km) west from Charing Cross. It has a population of 46,787 inhabitants, or 62,126 with the inclusion of Perivale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Highbury</span> Human settlement in England

Highbury is an area in North London and located in the London Borough of Islington. Highbury was owned by Ranulf, brother of Ilger, and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colliers Wood</span> Human settlement in England

Colliers Wood is an area in south west London, England, in the London Borough of Merton. It is a mostly residential area, but has a busy high street around Colliers Wood tube station on London Underground's Northern line. The high street is part of the A24, a major road route roughly following the Northern Line, running from London through Tooting and other areas. The Colliers Wood ward had a population of 10,712 in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shepherd's Bush</span> Suburb of West London, England

Shepherd's Bush is a suburb of West London, England, within the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham 4.9 miles (7.9 km) west of Charing Cross, and identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">County Hall, London</span> County building in London, England

County Hall is a building in the district of Lambeth, London that was the headquarters of London County Council (LCC) and later the Greater London Council (GLC). The building is on the South Bank of the River Thames, with Westminster Bridge being next to it, to the south. It faces west toward the City of Westminster and is close to the Palace of Westminster. The nearest London Underground stations are Waterloo and Westminster. It is a Grade II* listed building.

Moorgate was one of the City of London, England's northern gates in its defensive wall, the last to be built. The gate took its name from the Moorfields, an area of marshy land that lay immediately north of the wall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. Lyons and Co.</span> British food and lodging conglomerate

J. Lyons & Co. was a British restaurant chain store, food manufacturing, and hotel conglomerate founded in 1884 by Joseph Lyons and his brothers in law, Isidore and Montague Gluckstein. Lyons’ first teashop opened in Piccadilly, London in 1894, and from 1909 they developed into a chain of teashops, with the firm becoming a staple of the High Street in the UK. At its peak the chain numbered around 200 cafes. The teashops provided for tea and coffee, with food choices consisting of hot dishes and sweets, cold dishes and sweets, and buns, cakes and rolls.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buick City</span> Car factory in Flint, Michigan (1904–1999)

Buick City was a massive, vertically-integrated automobile manufacturing complex in northeast Flint, Michigan, which served the Buick home plant between 1904 and 1999. In the early 1980s, after major renovations were completed to better compete with Japanese producers, the plant was renamed to "Buick City".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edmonton, London</span> Town and District of London, England

Edmonton is a town in north London, England within the London Borough of Enfield, a local government district of Greater London. The northern part of the town is known as Lower Edmonton or Edmonton Green, and the southern part as Upper Edmonton. Situated 8.4 miles (13.5 km) north-northeast of Charing Cross, it borders Enfield to the north, Chingford to the east, and Tottenham to the south, with Palmers Green and Winchmore Hill to the west. The population of Edmonton was 82,472 as of 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Kensington</span> Human settlement in England

West Kensington, formerly North End, is an area in the ancient parish of Fulham, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, England, 3.4 miles (5.5 km) west of Charing Cross. It covers most of the London postal area of W14, including the area around Barons Court tube station, and is defined as the area between Lillie Road and Hammersmith Road to the west, Fulham Palace Road to the south, Hammersmith to the north and West Brompton and Earl's Court to the east. The area is bisected by the major London artery the A4, locally known as the Talgarth Road. Its main local thoroughfare is the North End Road.

Vancouver Film Studios is a film production facility located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and is operated by the McLean Group of Companies. It consists of 12 purpose-built sound stages ranging in size from 1,160 to 1,950 square metres, eight production offices, and other support spaces. VFS in 2006 was the recipient of a BC Export Award in the New Media and Entertainment section, and was recognized as one of the top 21 exporters in British Columbia. It was founded in 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brook Green</span> Human settlement in England

Brook Green is an affluent sub-neighbourhood of Hammersmith in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. Located approximately 3.6 miles (5.8 km) west of Charing Cross, it is bordered by Kensington, Holland Park, Shepherd's Bush, Hammersmith and Brackenbury Village.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hendler Creamery</span> United States historic place

Hendler Creamery is a historic industrial complex in Jonestown, Baltimore, Maryland. Since it spans an entire block it has addresses at 1100 E. Baltimore St. and 1107 E. Fayette St. "The Hendler Creamery is historically significant for its contribution to the broad patterns of history in three areas of significance: transportation, performing arts, and industry."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ark Burlington Danes Academy</span> Academy in London, England

Ark Burlington Danes Academy is a Church of England, non-selective, mixed all-through school located in White City, London on a 10-acre (40,000 m2) site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blythe House</span> Grade II listed building in West Kensington, London

Blythe House is a listed building located at 23 Blythe Road, West Kensington, London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, UK. Originally built as the headquarters of the Post Office Savings Bank, it is now used as a store and archive by the Victoria and Albert, Science and British Museums. In the 2015 Autumn Statement the Government announced it would fund new storage for the museums and then sell off Blythe House.

J. Lyons and Co., Greenford was a major food production factory located in Greenford, west London. Developed post World War I by J. Lyons and Co., it covered 63 acres (25 ha) at its height, and produced tea, coffee, grocery products and Lyons Maid ice cream. Ready Brek instant porridge breakfast cereal was developed at the site. After the merger of Lyons with Allied Bakeries in the 1980s, and the focus of the new Allied Domecq business to focus on spirits, with the sell off of the businesses associated with the factory, the need for the facility dwindled. Redeveloped from 1998, today it is known as Lyon Way Industrial Estate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margravine Cemetery</span> Cemetery in London

Margravine Cemetery, also known as Hammersmith Cemetery, is in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. The closest London Underground station is Barons Court.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Livat Hammersmith</span> Shopping mall in London, England

Livat Hammersmith, formerly known as the Kings Mall, is a retail, residential and office complex located off King Street in Hammersmith in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. Along with the other Livat Centres, it is operated by the Ingka Centres division of INGKA Holding.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michigan Paper Company Mill Historic District</span> Historic district in Michigan, United States

The Michigan Paper Company Mill Historic District, also known as the Plainwell Paper Company Complex, is a complex of industrial buildings located at 200 Allegan Street in Plainwell, Michigan. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.

References

  1. 1 2 3 'J. Lyons & Co. Cadby Hall', at London Remembers
  2. Harding, Thomas.Legacy: The Remarkable History of J Lyons and the Family Behind It (2019)
  3. 'How the Lyons Company Took Over the World', in The Guardian, 23 August 2019
  4. The Register, 30 November, 2021
  5. "Cream of the crop at Royal Society". New Scientist . 99 (1365): 5. 7 July 1983. Retrieved 25 January 2011.
  6. "THE PROFESSIONALS: Episode Guide". 8 September 2006. Archived from the original on 8 September 2006. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
  7. "THE PROFESSIONALS: Episode Guide". Archived from the original on 8 September 2006. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
  8. "The Sweeney Forum :: View topic - Various Locations". 11 March 2007. Archived from the original on 11 March 2007. Retrieved 26 July 2021.

51°29′42″N0°12′45″W / 51.49500°N 0.21250°W / 51.49500; -0.21250