HB Ice Cream (originally an initialisation of both Hughes Brothers and Hazelbrook Farm) is an

ice cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as ...

brand in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and is part of the

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy dri ...

Group's

Heartbrand This is a list of brands owned by the British multinational consumer goods company Unilever. Unilever's billion euro brands These brands have annual sales of one billion euros or more: * Axe/Lynx *Dove *Omo/Persil * Heartbrand (Wall's) ice ...

ice cream brand. It manufactures most of the Heartbrand's ice cream range, as well as some products designed exclusively for the Irish market, including the Hazelbrook Farm range of blocks of ice-cream. In Northern Ireland, both HB and Wall's ice-cream (the UK variant of the Heartbrand) are available, and in recent years have been promoted together as HB Wall's.

History

The company was founded in 1926 as Hughes Brothers by James, George, and William Hughes at Hazelbrook Farm in

Churchtown, Dublin Churchtown () is a largely residential suburb on the southside of Dublin, between Rathfarnham and Dundrum. Landmarks Ely's Arch Braemor Road is still marked by a triumphal arch from the 18th century, which originally led to Rathfarnham Cas ...

. The name Hazelbrook Farm was dropped during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

but brought back in the late 1980s except that it was called "HB Originals" from 2002 to 2005. In 1964, the milk distribution operations of HB were transferred to Premier Dairies. The rest of the company was sold to

W. R. Grace and Company W. R. Grace and Co. is an American chemical business based in Columbia, Maryland. It produces specialty chemicals and specialty materials in two divisions: Grace Catalysts Technologies, which makes catalysts and related products and technologies ...

and subsequently became part of

in 1973. HB also made

sweets Candy, also called sweets (British English) or lollies (Australian English, New Zealand English), is a confection that features sugar as a principal ingredient. The category, called ''sugar confectionery'', encompasses any sweet confection, i ...

and

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civ ...

too at phases. In 2002 and 2003 it made frozen yogurt. In 2003, the HB Ice Cream plant in Churchtown was closed with the loss of 180 jobs. Hazelbrook House, the Hughes family farmhouse, was moved to Bunratty Folk Park in 2001, where it is now on display and open to the public.

Advertising

In 2016 the brand celebrated its 90th birthday, and all television adverts since 1961 for HB returned to television screens. During the late 1970s and early 1980s popular phrases included "Two Letters Spell Ireland's Favourite Ice Cream", "Still The Favourite" during the mid-1980s while some adverts were used for Wall's in England, Miko in France and other sister brands. During the mid 1990s there were Cool Bits lolly pop like a sweet. On 26 April 2017 many of the adverts from the 1960s and 1970s were made available to the

Irish Film Archive The Irish Film Archive is part of the Irish Film Institute (formed in 1943, incorporated in 1945) the body charged with the promotion and preservation of film culture in Ireland. It collects, preserves and makes accessible Ireland's moving imag ...

and can be watched online.

References

''Tears and Smiles as the HB Factory Close''
Rathfarnham Community Website * See "The Story of HB" "80 years of Ireland's favourite Ice Cream" by Paul Mulhern and Kieran Fagan. First Published by Unilever Ireland, 20 Riverwalk, National Digital Park, Citywest Business Campus, Dublin 24. Copyright Paul Mulhern and Kieran Fagan 2006.

External links

HB Ice Cream

Unilever Ireland

Lakeland Dairies
{{Authority control Unilever brands Companies of the Republic of Ireland Ice cream brands Food and drink companies established in 1926 1926 establishments in Ireland sv:Heartbrand#Övriga företag

History

Advertising

See also

References

External links