From a small shop in Birmingham to a chocolate loved around the world – check out these images spanning nearly 100 years of Birmingham company history dating back to 1842
Cadbury’s has been an integral part of Birmingham’s heritage, since the very first store opened almost 200 years ago.
John Cadbury opened the store at 93 Bull Street, Birmingham, and sold tea, coffee, cocoa and drinking chocolate. By 1842, he was selling nearly 30 varieties of drinking chocolates and cocoa.
But the entrepreneur retired for health reasons at the age of 60 in 1861 – passing the business on to his brothers, Richard and George. In just five years, the brothers made the business very profitable by shifting its focus from tea and coffee to high-quality chocolate.
The business grew stronger and stronger and by 1875 Cadbury’s had made Cadbury’s first Easter egg. By 1897 Richard and George had moved the business to Bournville in south Birmingham and made their first bar of milk chocolate.
The Bournville factory is still in use today and Cadbury remains a household name with its chocolate enjoyed daily around the world – whether it is Cadbury chocolate bars (in their many variations), Cadbury biscuits or Cadbury original hot chocolate.
Here are 12 iconic black and white photos spanning nearly 100 years as Cadbury finally announces the flavors of its two Cadbury Mystery Chocolate Bars, showing Cadbury’s early popularity and making the brand what we know and love today.
1. 1886
A family seated around the breakfast table in an advertisement for Cadbury’s Cocoa. Original publication: The graph
Photo: Getty Images
2. 1888
An advert for Cadbury’s Cocoa, using an image of rugby players to highlight the “strength and endurance” gained from drinking the product.
Photo: Getty Images
3. 1900
An advert for Cadbury’s Cocoa showing a golfer buying a cup of cocoa from a woman who was selling it on a golf course. Original Artist – Cecil Charles Windsor Aldin (British painter, printmaker, (1870-1935)
Photo: Getty Images
4. 1909
Employees leaving the Cadbury chocolate factory in Bournville Village near Birmingham, a new town founded by chocolate maker and social reformer George Cadbury.
Photo: Getty Images
