Last bottle of HP Sauce made at Aston as factory closes

The HP Sauce factory at Aston Cross has made its last bottle, ending more than a century of production of the famous brown sauce in Birmingham.

Production stopped on 16 March, as owner Heinz moves manufacturing to its factory at Elst in the Netherlands. Around 125 jobs have been lost.

A fight to save it

Heinz first announced the move in May 2006, only weeks after HP launched a campaign to "Save the Proper British Cafe". The plan prompted a backlash and calls for a boycott of Heinz products, and was criticised by politicians and unions, especially as the company intends to keep the image of the Houses of Parliament on its bottles.

Local Labour MP Khalid Mahmood protested by holding up a bottle of HP Sauce during Prime Minister's Questions. Despite the campaign, Heinz confirmed the move in August 2006.

From Nottingham to Aston

HP Sauce was created by Frederick Garton, a Nottingham grocer. In 1899, unable to settle a debt with his vinegar suppliers, the Midland Vinegar Company of Aston Cross, he sold the name and recipe to the company's Edwin Samson Moore for £150.

The sauce, named after the Houses of Parliament, went on to become one of the best-known brands in Britain. In 2005 it was the country's best-selling brown sauce, with almost three-quarters of the retail market.

A landmark

Heinz bought HP Foods from Danone in 2005, in a £440 million deal approved by the Competition Commission last April.

What happens to the site

The six-acre site is expected to be sold for redevelopment, and the factory buildings are due to be demolished.

The closure comes two years after the collapse of MG Rover at Longbridge, and adds to the loss of manufacturing jobs across the city.

Former workers are planning to mark the closure with a gathering at the site.

As part of the 1899 deal, Garton also had to agree to stay out of the sauce and pickle business, although his name remained on bottles of HP Sauce for many years afterwards. Today HP and Daddies are the two most popular national brands of brown sauce.

During the campaign to save the factory, Mr Mahmood reminded MPs of the sauce's popularity with the former Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson, who was well known for his fondness for it.

The Office of Fair Trading referred Heinz's takeover of HP Foods to the Competition Commission in October 2005, before it was cleared.

HP Sauce is made from ingredients including tomatoes, malt vinegar and molasses.