British Sugar
{{Short description|British food company}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2017}}
{{Infobox company
| name = British Sugar plc
| logo = BritishSugar.png
| former_name = British Sugar Corporation Limited (1936{{endash}}1982){{Cite web |date=1936-06-12 |title=BRITISH SUGAR PLC overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK |url=https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/00315158 |access-date=2024-02-10 |website=Companies House |language=en}}
| type = Subsidiary
| foundation = 1936
| location_city = Peterborough
| location_country = England, United Kingdom
| location =
| locations = 5
| key_people = Keith Packer (managing director)
| area_served = United Kingdom
| industry = Sugar beet processing
| products = Sugar
Bioethanol
Animal feed
Topsoil
Soil conditioners
| services =
| operating_income = {{increase}} £59.8 million (2021)
| net_income = {{increase}} £35.3 million (2021)
| num_employees = 1,400 (2021)
| parent = AB Sugar (Associated British Foods)
| divisions =
| subsid =
| homepage = {{URL|britishsugar.co.uk}}
| dissolved =
| footnotes =
}}
File:-2021-04-15 Wissington Sugar Factory (1).jpg
British Sugar plc is a subsidiary of Associated British Foods and the sole British producer of sugar from sugar beet, as well as medicinal cannabis.
History
File:BritishSugarAlscottCB.JPG, Shropshire, closed in early 2007, and has since been demolished.]]
File:Bury St Edmunds Rail Station, 26 Sep, 2012.jpg seen behind the town's railway station]]
=Early history=
The company was formed as the British Sugar Corporation in 1936, when the British parliament nationalised the entire sugar beet crop processing industry, under the banner of British Sugar Corporation. At this time, there were 13 separate companies with 18 factories across the country. In 1972, it began selling its sugar products under the name of Silver Spoon.{{cite web|url=https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/tesco-drops-the-suffolk-produced-silver-spoon-sugar-in-favour-of-rival-1-4919328|title=Tesco drops the Suffolk-produced Silver Spoon sugar in favour of rival|date=6 March 2017|publisher=East Anglian Daily Times|access-date=8 April 2019}}
In 1977, a rights issue decreased the government holding from 36% to 24%. In May 1982, the company name was shortened to British Sugar plc, and later that year it was taken over by Berisford International.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/08/11/business/british-sugar-stake.html|title=British Sugar stake|date=11 August 1982|work=New York Times|access-date=8 April 2019}}
After a crash in property values affected Berisford, it was sold to Associated British Foods (ABF) on 2 January 1991.{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/garry-weston-9169664.html |title=Obituary: Garry Weston |work=The Independent |location=UK |date= 16 February 2002|access-date=15 May 2010 }}
In 2004 the company took over independent sugar producers Billingtons, which was founded by Edward Billington and Son, as a tea and coffee trading company, in 1858.{{cite web|url=https://www.billingtons.co.uk/story/our-heritage/|title=Our heritage|publisher=Billingtons|access-date=26 May 2023}}
=Closures=
The sugar refinery in Cupar, Fife, closed in 1971 ending the growth and processing of sugar beet in Scotland; in its heyday in the mid-1930s, 1,500 farmers supplied the Cupar factory.{{Cite web|title=Cupar, Prestonhall, Trading Estate {{!}} Canmore|url=https://canmore.org.uk/site/312360/cupar-prestonhall-trading-estate|access-date=17 October 2021|website=canmore.org.uk|language=en}} In 1981, the Ely, Felsted, Nottingham and Selby factories closed after a reduction in the allowed sugar quota. This was followed by the closure of sites at Spalding in 1989, Peterborough and Brigg in 1991, King's Lynn in 1994, Bardney and Ipswich in 2001, Kidderminster in 2002, and Allscott and York in 2007. The site at Allscott, which opened in 1927, near Telford, Shropshire, was closed because it "lacked scale" to be run economically, while the site at York, North Yorkshire (opened 1926), was closed due to the poor crop yields in northern England.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/england/5145582.stm|title=Two sugar plants set to be closed|work=BBC News|date=4 July 2006|access-date=4 May 2012}}
Of the 18 factories which were owned by the British Sugar Corporation, only four still process beet - Bury St Edmunds (Suffolk), Cantley (in Norfolk, the second and first successful British sugar factory in 1912), Newark-on-Trent (Nottinghamshire) and Wissington (western Norfolk and the largest in Europe). The Bury site is also a major packaging plant for Silver Spoon.{{cite web|url=https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/the-story-of-sugar-in-peterborough-and-british-sugar-1-142092|title=The story of sugar in Peterborough and British Sugar|date=29 October 2009|publisher=Peterborough Today|access-date=8 April 2019|archive-date=8 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408152216/https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/the-story-of-sugar-in-peterborough-and-british-sugar-1-142092|url-status=dead}}
The 12 sites already closed have been sold and decommissioned to various degrees – many large concrete silos (for storing the major product, white granulated sugar) still remain even where the sites have been closed, including those at the Kidderminster factory which was closed in 2002 and sold off in 2006. The concrete silos at the Ipswich site were demolished in 2018, 17 years after the site closed. Allscott has now been completely demolished. Spalding has been replaced by Spalding Power Station.{{cite web|url=http://www.intergen.com/assets/docs/SP_Environmental-Statement-Further-Information-Document-new.pdf|title=Environmental Statement|publisher=Ramboll|date=14 April 2015|access-date=8 April 2019|archive-date=8 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408152609/http://www.intergen.com/assets/docs/SP_Environmental-Statement-Further-Information-Document-new.pdf|url-status=dead}} BP and DuPont are working with British Sugar to build a bioethanol plant at BP's Hull site, as described in an announcement made in June 2007.{{cite news|url=http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/analysis/2279996/vivergo-opens-uks-largest-biorefinery-plant-in-hull-as-biofuel-debate-heats-up|title=Vivergo opens UK's largest biorefinery plant in Hull as biofuel debate heats up|date=9 July 2013|access-date=11 August 2015}}
Operations
British Sugar is effectively the sole buyer of all of the sugar beet grown in Britain. This output comes from around 2,300 beet growers throughout Britain.{{cite news |last1=Sugar |first1=British |date=1 November 2023 |title=Meet our Board |url=https://www.britishsugar.co.uk/media/news/2023-11-01-202425-sugar-beet-contract-a-competitive-core-price-with-added-potential-for-sharing-sugar-market-upside |work=Latest News |page= |issue= |issn=}} There is however a proposal to start growing sugar beet in Eastern Scotland again to produce bioethanol.{{Cite web|date=10 February 2020|title=Sugar beet to return to Scotland after 50 years|url=https://www.farmersguide.co.uk/sugar-beet-to-return-to-scotland-after-50-years/|access-date=17 October 2021|website=Farmers Guide|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=Sugar beet to return to Scotland after 50 years|url=https://www.farminglife.com/country-and-farming/sugar-beet-return-scotland-after-50-years-1392923|access-date=17 October 2021|website=www.farminglife.com|language=en}} British Sugar is a supplier of cannabis to GW Pharmaceuticals.{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/10/25/british-sugar-to-cultivate-cannabis-plants-in-norfolk-for-gw-pha/|title=British Sugar to cultivate cannabis plants in Norfolk for GW Pharmaceuticals|last=Bradshaw|first=Julia|date=25 October 2016|work=The Telegraph|access-date=8 March 2018|language=en-GB|issn=0307-1235}}
Management
The former managing director, Paul Kenward, is married to the Conservative MP, former Health Secretary and current Shadow Secretary of State for Health Victoria Atkins.[http://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/engagements/57719/mr-p.r.-kenward-and-miss-v.m.-atkins Mr P.R. Kenward and Miss V.M. Atkins - Engagements Announcements] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190911085705/http://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/engagements/57719/mr-p.r.-kenward-and-miss-v.m.-atkins |date=11 September 2019 }} in The Daily Telegraph at announcements.telegraph.co.uk He has since been promoted to the parent company (ABF Sugar) as the CEO there.{{Cite web |date=May 30, 2024 |title=ABF Sugar meet our executive team |url=https://www.abfsugar.com/executive-team |access-date=May 30, 2024 |website=abfsugar.com}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category|British Sugar}}
- {{Official website|www.britishsugar.co.uk}}
- [http://www.miac.org.uk/sugar.htm British Sugar at Kidderminster]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070715135853/http://www.derelicte.co.uk/ipswich-sugar-factory Ipswich Sugar Factory] photos taken in 2006
- [http://www.urbanassault.t83.net/#/britishsugarkidderminster/4527158385/ Exploring British Sugar, Kidderminster] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080623093213/http://www.urbanassault.t83.net/#/britishsugarkidderminster/4527158385/ |date=23 June 2008 }}
- [http://consideratetrespassing.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/british-sugar-bardney-june-2012.html Exploring British Sugar, Bardney]
- {{PM20|FID=co/003579|TEXT=Clippings about|NAME=}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Food manufacturers of the United Kingdom
Category:British companies established in 1936
Category:Food and drink companies established in 1936
Category:Companies based in Peterborough
Category:Companies based in Cambridgeshire
Category:Associated British Foods
Category:1936 establishments in the United Kingdom
Category:British royal warrant holders