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Alperton
Carton Company
Eighty per cent of the
company's cartons (Lyons Bakery, Lyons
Maid, Tetley Tea and Henry Telfer) were
made by Alperton Carton Ltd. The company,
or rather the former box department from
which it emerged, was one of the earliest
service departments formed at Cadby Hall
circa 1900. In those days the department
made rigid boxes for chocolates and it was
not until after the First World War that
production changed from rigid to folding
cartons. It was at this time that the Box
Making Department moved to new premises in
Earlham Street, Covent Garden, London. One
of the oldest members of the box making
department was Miss E. A. Pates who had
joined the company in 1905. When she
retired in 1964 she remembered making some
350 different types of rigid boxes for
chocolates and cakes. These were often
covered in fluted silk and heavily
decorated. The department had their own
silk screen plant to put designs on the
boxes. Among the more unusual boxes Miss
Pates made were those shaped like
dart-boards, cricket bats, balls and even
an aeroplane - to commemorate the first
flight from New Zealand to England. She
also made special presentation chocolate
boxes for nearly every member of the royal
family.
After the First World War
automation began to take over the process
of making boxes and this continued at
Earlham Street so that by 1964 the factory
employed some 250 staff. Alperton Carton
Company Ltd was formed in about 1961 and
it is thought they moved to a new factory
at Manor Farm Road, Alperton at this time.
In 1966 Alperton Carton
Company started their own package design
department which they called
Alpergraphics. In 1971 they set out to
capture 25 per cent of the Groups
packaging design. In charge of the
department was Eddie Bayliss, a member of
the Society of Industrial Artists. He had
joined Lyons in 1955 in what was then the
Design Department and went to Alperton
Carton Company in 1966. With him was Ruth
Hall, who also joined in 1966. Both were
said to be 'experts' on lettering and
creative design. The type of work
Alpergraphics provided included design
packaging, illustration, house styles,
symbols, menus, brochures, publicity and
display literature, press advertisements,
lettering, and presentation layouts.
Many types of cartons were
produced at Alperton and they fell into
three main categories: Those printed in up
to five colours by lithographic process,
transit packs and shrink-wrap trays. In
December 1970 production capacity was
increased by 15 per cent with the
installation of a £120,000 six-colour
litho in-line cutting and creasing press.
The machine, made by Roland of Switzerland
and capable of 6,000 impressions an hour,
was the first of its kind to be installed
in Britain. The installation took five
weeks and was so successful that it ran on
two shifts between 6.30 am and 22.00 pm.
Its first job was to print Lyons Maid ice
cream cartons in six colours which up till
then had only been possible in four.
Further improvements were made to the
factory in February 1977 when a four
colour printing press and creasing machine
was installed. Two older machines were
removed to make way for the new Roland
Ultra RUV6 and the new Bobst creasing and
cutting machine from Switzerland. The
advantage of the new machinery was that
the paper-board used was sheet-fed
(approximately 1400 x 1000 mm) enabling a
large number of cartons to be printed on
each sheet. This made the printing process
faster and cut down on waste. With the two
machines Alperton had the unusual
advantage of being able to offer both a
full sheet-fed and a reel-fed operation.
Having two Roland and two Bobst machines
meant the company had a greater degree of
flexibility in case of break-downs or
sudden, urgent orders. Further changes
were made to factory equipment in August
1980 when they acquired a 40 ton, nine
year-old second hand machine from Holland
called a Wupa. It replaced three old
machines and was part of a replacement
programme to enable cartons of a higher
standard to be produced.
Despite all the investment
Alperton Carton Company was hit badly by
the recession of the 1980s and ceased
trading at the end of August 1981. Most of
the staff were made redundant but some
stayed on to dispose of plant. At the same
time Hogarth Press was closed down it
having only moved from its former premises
at Hythe Road, Willesden nine months
previously. This too had been a very old
part of the company and they had been
responsible for printing all the company
Annual Reports and Lyons Mail magazines
for many years.
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Examining
a pile of cartons ready for the stripping
section. From left are Albert Weinthrop,
General Manager, G. Beckett, maching Shop
Chargehand, Bob Sheppard, Foreman of
stripping section and Trevor
Russell-Smith, Marketing Manager.
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