A former Liverpool biscuit factory famous for creating family-favourite confectionary was a "home away from home" for many of its workers.
Originally a small shop opened in Scotland in 1813 by William Crawford, Crawford's Biscuits later became a well-known name on Merseyside. Well-known for its delicious shortbread by the 1890s Crawford and Sons, the biscuit manufacturers, built a large factory in Fairfield and welcomed generations of employees.
Located in Binns Road, Crawford's was known for making favourites such as 54321 chocolate bars, Bandits and Penguin bars, the Liverpool ECHO previously reported. It wasn't unusual for employees to also pop to the social club for a themed night or join the Crawford's football team.
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The company was later acquired by United Biscuits. But the Crawford's brand is still used today and the much-loved Liverpool factory lives on in many people's memories.
Collette O'Neill, who lives in Huyton, described Crawford's as a "family affair" as she and generations of loved ones worked at the factory and lived in the roads surrounding it. Collette's grandfather Jack Tattan worked on security, her dad, also named Jack, worked as a supervisor on the loading bay, while her mum Madge and her sister also worked at Crawford's, as well as cousin Dennis and her uncle Brian.
She told the ECHO: "It was home from home. It was a pure family affair. Everybody had family working there. When I started they opened a new department called the Bandit and they must have taken on maybe 70 school leavers. St Trinian's, that’s what we were all called. We all got trained up and we all worked on that one department.
"We made Bandit, we made shortbread. When a line went down you’d get sent anywhere in the factory. You’d be lifting the frames off the shortbread as they came out the oven and you ate as much as you took out. The smells were lovely."
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Collette worked at Crawford's until it closed down in the 1980s. She said she remembers the social club which would host western- themed nights and discos, as well as Crawford's football team and being "treated like royalty" when served a full English breakfast in the canteen.
She said: "We had a shop in the factory, just by the front of security, where I was on the Bandits. If a machine went down and you had a rollover conveyer belt, what you couldn't hand pick would go in big baskets.
"You’d bag them up to sell in the shop if it couldn't be recycled to make chocolate. The shop was dead cheap. I couldn't say there was a nasty person in there, everyone was so lovely. It was just the best ever."
Dot Molyneux, from Stoneycroft, worked at Crawford's from 1970 to 1978, originally working on the night shift before moving to work in the day. Her son said he had fond memories of friends Peggy and Francis who she met in the factory.
Bill said: "Mum’s role was packing biscuits. She used to come home with an unmarked brown box of broken Penguins which they used to sell to the staff because they weren't suitable to go to the shops. I felt untouchable in the playground because I had a school bag full of reject Penguin biscuits. It wasn’t very good in the summer though because they’d all melt.
"My mates' mums who worked at Jacobs became more popular as they were armed with broken Club biscuits that had more chocolate on them."
Bill said he also remembers his mum and other workers all walking the same route home after a shift as well at the Crawford's Christmas party in the social club. He said: "My memory of that is I only went twice. The first year my mum wasn't there she just dropped us off and the second year she volunteered to help in the kitchen and supervise the kids.
"That helped me that year because I got an Airfix plane model when I really wanted a Wembley Trophy ball. My mum was able to swap it with Father Christmas."
Emma Kettle said her parents, who live in Hunts Cross, met whilst working at Crawford's. Her dad Tony Newsome worked at the factory for around 20 years until it closed whilst her mum Ann worked there for around six years.
Emma said: "My dad worked there from leaving school until it closed. He was in the chocolate refinery. My mum worked as a lab technician, testing samples until she had me in 1978. That’s how they met. She would go down to the factory floor to collect samples to test and he would help her collect the chocolate samples. My mum gave up work when she had us."
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Emma said her dad remembers doing a fancy dress collection every year at Crawford's. She said: "He said he loved working there as there was a real sense of camaraderie. There was plenty of things that they put on for the workers, like the club. He also enjoyed the chess club that one of his managers got him into."
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