Big brother is…eating you all up…

[karen]

OK I get there has to be big companies, after all I work for one!

But the food and drink sector seems worse than most for the big boys gobbling up the small fry and then stripping the brands right out of them.

Not a shock move as Unilever bought them back in 1995, but now no more Colemans made in Norwich after over 100 years. Sad.

The one that still boils my p*ss is Taunton Cider being consumed by Matthew Clark also as a coincidence in 1995. I stopped drinking Dry Blackthorn in protest…after a few hundred pints…

Any other brave smaller brands folk still remember before they were swallowed up?

[dave]

HP sauce made in Holland is the obvious one

Beer gets a bit depressing for this. For instance, I sometimes wonder how many of the people buying the Tesco “classic ales” boxes know that the brands included (Marstons Pedigree, Hobgoblin, Thwaites Lancaster Bomber, Ringwood Razor Back, Brakspeare Bitter, Jennings Cumberland Ale) are all actually property of Marstons PLC, which itself was originally the Wolverhampton and Dudley Brewery (formerly Banks), who adopted the Marstons brand after they bought them.

[blurty]

Terry’s chocolate orange are now owned by Mondelez. Not had a choccy orange since they moved production from York to Poland.

[kerry]

@dave True. However Jennings is still brewed in Cockermouth using the same water, equipment, ingredients and staff. (Although it was brewed elsewhere post flooding until the brewery and borehole were decontaminated). Not sure about the others. So although it is a megacorp it’s not all churned out in the same chemical plant and labelled differently at the other end, (unlike supermarket branded foods).