The Chocolate Works, also known as Terry's Chocolate Works, was the

confectionery Confectionery is the Art (skill), art of making confections, or sweet foods. Confections are items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates, although exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confections are divided into two bro ...

factory A factory, manufacturing plant or production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. Th ...

Terry's Terry's (formerly Terry's of York) is a British chocolate and confectionery brand. The original company was founded in 1767 in York, England, and was part of the city's famous confectionery triumvirate along with Rowntree's and Cravens. The co ...

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Opened in 1926, it closed in 2005 with the loss of 300 jobs, with production moved to other

Kraft Foods Kraft Foods Group, Inc. was an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate (company), conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. on October 1, 2012, and was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz on July ...

sites in mainland

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. Today, the site is being redeveloped as a mixed-use residential/commercial real estate development.

History

Construction

In 1923, Frank and Noel Terry joined the family business, ''Terry's of York''. They revamped the company, launching new products, and bought a site off Bishopthorpe Road, York on which to develop a new factory. Built in an

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

style, the factory known as ''Terry's Chocolate Works'' included a distinct

clock tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure that house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another building ...

Production

Opened in 1927, products including the Chocolate Apple (already introduced in 1924),

Terry's Chocolate Orange Terry's Chocolate Orange is a chocolate product with orange (fruit), orange flavour created by Terry's in 1932 at Terry's Chocolate Works in York, England. The brand has changed ownership several times, and production was moved to Poland in 20 ...

(1932), and Terry's All Gold (1932) were all produced onsite. With the onset of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, part of the factory was taken over by F. Hills and Sons of

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, with some of Terry's staff helping with the manufacture and repair of aircraft propeller blades. The Chocolate Works continued to produce Terry's products, which were regularly included in troops' rations, and it took on the manufacture of chocolate for London firm Charbonnel & Walker. In 1978, Terry's was acquired by

Colgate-Palmolive The Colgate-Palmolive Company, commonly known as Colgate-Palmolive, is an American multinational corporation, multinational consumer products company headquartered on Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The company specializes in ...

for about £17 million. The new owners developed the Chocolate Lemon, which proved to be a failure. The company was sold again a few years later to

United Biscuits United Biscuits (UB) is a British multinational food manufacturer, makers of McVitie's biscuits, Jacob's Cream Crackers, and Twiglets. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. In ...

for £25 million, forming the bulk of their confectionery division. A new plant was built specifically for production of the Chocolate Orange. The business was sold by United Biscuits in 1992 to

for £220 million, who amalgamated it with Chocolat Suchard to create Terry's Suchard. Production was also scaled back, with just UK products and Terry's Chocolate Orange, Terry's All Gold and Twilight made for the international market.

Closure

In 2004, Kraft Foods decided to switch production of remaining products All Gold and Chocolate Orange to factories in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

, and close the plant. The factory closed on 30 September 2005.

Redevelopment

Bought by developers Grantside, they consulted local people on how to develop the site, renamed ''The Chocolate Works''. Their initial proposed development was rejected by the City of York Council. In February 2010, with the Grade II listed Time Office and Art Deco clock tower secured and scheduled for refurbishment and despite objections from the

Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) was an executive non-departmental public body of the UK government, established in 1999. It was funded by both the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for ...

, the firm was given

planning permission Planning permission or building permit refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. House building permits, for example, are subject to buil ...

for a £165 million mixed-use of residential, commercial and leisure. The eventual scheme is projected to create more than 2,700 new jobs in new and refurbished offices, two hotels, shops, bars, cafés and restaurants, over 250 homes, a nursery, care home and medical centre. Redevelopment started in 2011, with removal of asbestos by trained and certified contractors, followed by demolition of non-scheduled buildings in early 2012. In April 2013, the site was acquired by joint developers Henry Boot Developments and David Wilson Homes. Approval for a scheme to create 173 apartments was granted in June 2015. In March 2023, following a £60,000 renovation project, the clock in the tower of the Chocolate Works began to function once again after a pause of 15 years.

References

External links

The Chocolate Works redevelopment
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chocolate Works Grade II listed buildings in York Manufacturing plants in England British shadow factories Art Deco architecture in England Industrial buildings completed in 1926