Five men and an idea - 100 years in chocolate!
While Russell & Atwell have just turned 4 (1st October 2024), October also marks 103 years for Giles (Atwell's) family working in Chocolate.
Back on 20th October 1921 with the very first order of a 7lb chocolate block, 'Lesme Ltd' was Founded by my grandfather (Leslie Atwell, later OBE) with '5 men and an idea' on Scrubbs Lane in London. The business and the factory remained and thrived there until the early 1980s when my Dad (David) ran it, moved it to Banbury and led it to become the single largest UK manufacturer of couverture chocolate. Eventually the company became part of the Barry Callebaut global chocolate business in 1990.
While you are unlikely to have heard of the brand, you probably ate their chocolate. That's because Lesme made 'couverture' chocolate that went into and onto foods like the first Walls Choc Ice in 1927, Maryland Cookies in the 1950s and lots and lots of other products sold in bakeries, chocolate shops, restaurants, cafes and many major supermarkets in the UK and across the world.
The chocolate was supplied in blocks initially, then in chips in the 1950s and latterly in liquid form in chocolate tankers from 1958 for larger customers - imagine a tanker with 15 tons of liquid chocolate!
I have vivid childhood memories of charging down the corridor to barge into my Dad's office on a Friday evening at Scrubbs Lane and sample the latest flavours, despite being instructed to wait outside; of the beautiful hand-made eggs we would receive at Easter and, above all, of often discussing and never running out of chocolate at home!
It's kind of wonderful to be writing this all these years later, sitting at my Grandfather's slightly battered desk and with the little Lesme toy tanker I played with as a child keeping me company as Steve and I build our new business.
It was also very special to be joined on our stand when we exhibited at the Fine Food Show a couple of weeks ago by my Dad, who had both parental and professional curiosity as to what we were up to!
Having by chance ended up working in Cadbury, where I stayed for 14 years, and then Godiva, I had long had a dream to start my own business in chocolate. So, it was with 'Two men and a fresh Idea', that Steve and I hatched Russell & Atwell almost 100 years after Lesme began.
If you've read this far, on what is a somewhat self-indulgent and certainly nostalgic blog - thank you!
Here's to the next 100 years in Chocolate...
If you'd like to read our 1st birthday blog - click here:
And for our second birthday blog - click here
8 comments
My father, Norman T. Bruce, worked for many years as an engineer at the Scrubs Lane Lesme factory site. In June 1937, aged 27, he applied to work as a maintenance engineer at Bee Bee Biscuits, then wholly owned by the Lesme company. He was interviewed by a Mr Bux on 29 June and notified the following day that his application had been successful. He began work on 12 July at a salary of £4 a week. J. Lyons acquired a majority stake in Bee Bee Biscuits the following year, but as far as my father was concerned, the top man of both his company and Lesme was Mr Leslie Atwell.
My father was fortunate to be classified as an essential worker during the war, with his military experience limited to Home Guard duties, frequently stationed on the roof of the five or six-storey Lesme building. He left in 1946 and, for two years, operated a wireless repair retail business off the Harrow Road. This was unsuccessful, and he was again lucky to be invited by Mr Atwell to work as a plant engineer at Lesme. He soon rose to become the company plant engineer. Despite having no formal training, he was fully responsible for the installation and upkeep of the equipment. His luck was enduring. For instance, I am sure he supervised the lifting of the massively heavy new conche machinery onto the top floor with his heart in his mouth. Indeed, I doubt he even knew for certain the load-bearing capacity of the top floors to support all the machinery.
His immediate boss, Derek Anderson, first shown around the factory by my father when still a schoolboy, had an unfortunate management style. After especially negative encounters, my father made it a practice of climbing to the top floor and slowly count to ten as he gazed out the large windows. Whilst the view of Kensal Green graveyard in the distance was discouraging, at least it generated an ambition – the worst place in the world was to be buried in line of sight of the factory at Kensal Green so he would retire and end his days at his childhood home in West Sussex.
I also worked at Lesme for a few weeks in 1961 or 1962, and was interviewed by Mr Leslie Atwell, who struck me as very pleasant. I also met his son David, who was obviously going through a period of induction by working in each of the departments. At that time, he was working with the lab manager, whose name I think was Luckwell. This may be unfair, but I had the distinct impression that Luckwell spent more time on the Daily Telegraph crossword puzzle in his office than his lab, the real work being undertaken by a team of young ladies.
My father should have retired in 1974 but was asked to work another two years until replacement engineers could be found. I contacted David Atwell many years later, around 1987, asking if my father could see the Banbury plant. I was very grateful that this was granted, and my father was hugely interested and impressed to see the changes and expansion in the scale of the plant.
My father successively lived at Arundel and Storrington and he died in 1996.
Between 1959and ’62 I was part of the buying team of Walls Ice Cream, firstly as the Buyer and Stock Controller at their Manchester Godley factory and then later at the Head Office at Wembley. The two people I knew were Atkinson and Jackson . One of them went to South Africa on some mission in November ’61.
I always found Lesme a very good supplier to work with and glad to read they have survived the past 60 years in one way or another..
My mother Sheila, now a sprightly 95, worked as a PA for your grandfather in the late 60s. I recall visiting the Scrubs Lane factory and having a tour of the manufacturing operation. Then proudly submitting this as a school project whilst munching through piles of chocolate drops
I worked at Lesme Scrubs lane 1960 as electricians maté there were about eight maintenance people at the time and all the other operatives were mostly West Indian origin had a lovely time there When I went for my interview it was at Cadby Hall Which was Lyon’s at the time There was a Unigate depot next to Lesme
Please forgive my ignorance – I am ashamed to say I hadn’t heard of S & A Lesme, nor Callebaut, before visiting the Banbury site in about 1994, before we (VEGA) supplied pressure/level transmitters for the production area. However, the taste of the chocolate in the gift packs we were given was a major revelation for my taste buds, and I have been singing your praises ever since. These days I have to restrain my sugar consumption, so I’ve become a bit of a nerd on the subject of ‘no added sugar chocolate’. However, I wish R&A the very best of luck / success in the future – and although I know it makes me look cheap, I’d like to volunteer for any product testing that’s going! AB