The Sweet Aroma

As I cycled to the Castle this morning, I was greeted by a sweet smell floating across the park. A large inhale... yes, it was probably the nearby McVitie's factory cooking biscuits. We often get visitors at the Museum who ask what the smell is. We pop outside the building, take a deep breath and reply 'custard creams today' before explaining about McVitie's.

Still known locally as Carrs, the factory stands on a major road junction near a large Sainsbury's supermarket, which probably sells many of the range of biscuits produced in the factory. It is one of the oldest and biggest biscuit factories in the world, opening in 1831. Started by Jonathon Dodgson Carr, a baker, who built a flour mill, bread and biscuit bakery before gaining a Royal Warrant for his biscuits in 1841. By 1881, Carr was employing 222 men, 36 women and 53 boys at his factory. Not bad for the son of a Kendal grocer.

McVitie's is still a major employer in the city, with staff producing 250,000 ginger nuts every hour. In 2015, flooding from Storm Desmond stopped production and the temporary closure of the site led to a national biscuit shortage. Newspaper headlines documented the sad loss of the wee ginger nut, but due to the dedication and determination of the factory staff the production lines were soon again producing ginger nuts, bourbons and custard creams. Staples for any teatime.

In 2018, a statue named 'Cracker Packers' was unveiled across the road from Carrs. The statue is a tribute to the female biscuit girls who worked at the factory, showing two girls standing on a Carrs Water biscuit, making the direct connection with the long-standing factory over the way.

It is great to see that this old factory with its fantastic history is still being used to make the products that it was originally built for. Although now owned by a Turkish company, familiar biscuit names are still coming off the production line. And long may it continue.