Of the four businesses I have chosen as the pillars upon which Spalding’s food industry was built George Adams & Son is the only one that was established in the town centre. In 1910 George Adams started a small butchers shop at 25 The Crescent in Spalding. Early adverts seem to emphasize the availability of small joints and cuts:
“Small half-bred mutton for sale. Half-shoulders 2s. to 2s. 6d; half legs 3s. to 3s. 6d.; other joints cut small. Small pork pies, pressed beef, sausages etc. George Adams Butcher, 25 Crescent, Spalding.”
From humble beginnings he grew his business and with it a brand. He had good knowledge of livestock and his father was a respected breeder of Suffolk sheep. His business grew selling both meat and processed products such as his famous pork pies, sausages and potted meat. By 1923 he was able to convert his properties in the Crescent into a butchers shop and bake house effectively fit for the purpose rather than converted housing. With the plans for this agreed and the property altered he was able to accept a position on Spalding Urban District Council in October 1923. The respect that he had earned is illustrated here:
“A native of Spalding Mr. Adams is a man exceedingly well fitted for public office. A keen, enterprising businessman, he is one of the largest rate payers in the town, and whilst his policy will be progressive, he will still retain control over the financial side of the work, and, to use his own words, ‘will try to conduct the business of the town in the same way I would my own.’
If the electors of the town need any further illustration of Mr. Adams’s business methods, they should glance for a moment at the business Mr Adams has built up for himself. In 1910 Mr Adams founded the Crescent butchers business, and converted dwelling houses into a shop.
A keen worker for charitable institutions, Mr Adams gave the George Adams Challenge Cup for bowlers, the proceeds of the competition going to the Nursing Association. He is also a keen worker in non-conformist circles.”[i]
It is interesting to note that many of the key businessmen in the town originating from the early twentieth century had strong links to the non-conformist churches.”
1929 saw a trade exhibition in the town and the description of his stand is rather poetic to a carnivore:
“The last, but no means, least pleasing stand! Mr. Adams dairy-fed hams, nestling amongst parsley-crested pork pies, and hedged about with lusty great bladders of lard and pleasant little pots of meat paste, are a sight which will make lips water, especially now there’s an ‘R’ in the month. After the glitter and polish of the hardware stalls, and the grace and the beauty of the fashionable stands, this display of prime English bacon and so on comes in delightful contrast , and finishes the tour on a homely note calculated to charm man, woman and child with equal power.”
During World War Two George Adams became Ministry slaughterhouse manager at Mill Green, Spalding struggling with an under-funded abattoir that he made work through his own ability. In 1953 he was granted one of the first non-ministry licences to slaughter at his premises at New Bond Street (a road that hardly exists today just off Winsover Road, Spalding), with the Ministry de-requisitioning the premises, the Mill Green premises were in such poor condition the Holland board of the National Farmers Union refused to support the old site.
Behind his shop in The Crescent George Adams started a bake house and I would enjoy the glorious smell of cooking pork pies on a foggy winter’s morning wafting across the town centre.
George Adams died in 1966, but was succeeded by his sons George and John Adams who were both well established in the business.
1967 saw George Adams open an abattoir at Fulney Lane Spalding that was recognised as one of the most modern pork products factories in the country. This fed not only local shops but a chain of butchers across the Midlands. 1979 saw further expansion of meat packing, freezing and cold store facilities. The business also expanded on sites away from Spalding, such as Frampton near Boston where a cooked meat unit was opened in 1974 and a site acquired at Ruskington near Sleaford. 1987 saw considerable investment at Fulney Lane, on the outskirts of Spalding with offices and bake house also moved to this site which continued to see further investment after 2000. Eventually size and commercial value of the brand made this attractive for take-over by large business as is the pattern we see.
George Adams whilst different to Geest was a considerable employer both directly and indirectly. Like Geest they contributed to the fabric of the town of which they were a part. It is perhaps symbolic that I recall the largest floats in Spalding tulip parade being those of George Adams and Geest. However, compared to the other businesses its legacy was different.
George Adams & Son was a strong retail brand that spread the Lincolnshire Pork Pie and Lincolnshire sausage into households across the country. At the same time it retained a retail presence in the town centre, a legacy business bearing the name remained until 2023 and was for over a hundred years a significant draw of footfall into that part of town. Whilst there were other quality butchers in the town, their branding had a pull from a wider area and helped keep Spalding on the map as a producer of traditional Lincolnshire meat products.
I also believe the presence of George Adams helped retain and attract abattoirs and meat processing to the area. It was certainly significant in helping retain a livestock auction in Spalding. In the post war period there was great pressure for there to be fewer abattoirs with central government favouring sites in the Midlands to grant abattoir licenses too. Without George Adam’s actions and forcefulness the loss of the meat trade to the area, other than small independent butchers with abattoirs, was a real possibility. As it is Spalding has in 2023 succeeded in retaining two significant abattoirs in an area that is better known for arable farming than for mixed or livestock farming. The importance of this in the areas position in the food industry should not be under-rated.
The development and maintenance of the food industry in Spalding has had a great effect on the area. As a market town it was very much prone to the fortunes of farming. In the early twentieth century the ups and downs of local business, especially shops, varied with the price and yield of potatoes. This was commented upon by Raymond Hastings and was a particular desire of the Urban District Council to free Spalding from this risk. It is not that other crops were not significant to the area, as we have seen with flowers and bulbs, but potatoes had the greatest fluctuation of fortunes against a very large investment in working capital and employment. The arrival of the sugar beet factory and Smedley’s canning factory in particular smoothed out the risk and provided, in the age of canning, a new market for local produce.
The food industry also protected the area from the worst ravages of recession. The best time for personal wages and incomes against costs was the 1960’s through to the early 1970’s when there were high levels of employment. The oil crisis of the 70’s and the subsequent recession and dismantling of UK coal, steel and manufacturing did impact the area, but whilst most people leaving school in the 1980’s in the area could find employment, my relations in Sheffield experienced the devastation of longer term employment and leaving school with lower prospects of local employment – at one time the family of five only had mum in a job. But, in my opinion, this was a turning point and the area saw a significant increase in migration to this employment rich area.
To understand the impact of the food industry it is worth comparison with other towns, for example, Bourne. When the sugar beet factory came to Spalding it was in competition with the market town of Bourne. As much as Spalding’s success in procuring the sugar beet factory was an economic historical turning point in its fortunes, so too was Bourne’s failure to obtain the sugar beet factory. As a result Bourne failed to obtain the same status or volume of food factories despite it being in an advantageous position. Peterborough grew and Bourne became a satellite dormitory, whereas Spalding became a thriving place of employment in the food sector.
[i] Spalding Guardian October 1923
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