A History of Cadbury - Diane Wordsworth

Description

When John Cadbury came to Birmingham in 1824, he sold tea, coffee and drinking chocolate in a small shop on Bull Street. Drinking chocolate was considered a healthy alternative to alcohol, something Cadbury, a Quaker, was keen to encourage. In 1879, the Cadburys moved to Bournville and created their ‘factory in a garden’ – an unprecedented move. It is now ironic that today’s Bournville is surrounded by that urban sprawl the Cadburys were so keen to get away from. This book looks at some of the social impact this company has had since its inception, both on the chocolate and cocoa business in general and on the community at large, both within and without the firm of Cadbury. In 2024, Cadbury's will be celebrating 200 years of the first store opening. This is the story of how the company began, how it grew, and how they diversified in order to survive.

Review

This book charts the history of Cadbury from it's beginnings to the present day - although rather more detail is obviously placed on the early beginnings as Cadbury is now owned by Mondelez International.

I hadn't realised that Cadbury began by selling drinking chocolate and only later diversified into chocolate itself. In fact I spent the few chapters telling my partner all the various little tidbits that I knew he would like to know also. One of which is that there used to be a Plain Tray - I never really gave much thought as to why it is called Milk Tray! Milk chocolate was the turnaround for the company as it outsold the plain almost immediately.

Bournville was of course a Garden City set up by Cadbury and I loved all the social history aspects of reading about what the employees could and couldn't do. I also hadn't realised that the Cadbury family were Quakers. I'm inspired now to go and visit Bournville - not Cadbury World, but the actual village and also Selly Manor.

There are lots of photos and illustrations throughout. However each chapter does somewhat repeat itself at times, as they are arranged into themes and not chronological. Personally I would have preferred to just go through the years to the present day in one go. 

There are some fabulous first hand accounts of what life was like at the factory and in the village and if nothing else it is good that these have been preserved for future generations to read.

I'm giving this book 4 out of 5 stars. My thanks to Netgalley for an ARC.