Tower Bridge Business Complex - Then and Now
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at 03:54AM For well over a century, Messrs Peek Frean’s biscuit factory played a central role in the working and social life of Bermondsey. James Peek and George Frean founded their business in 1857. A new factory was built in 1867 alongside the railway running into London Bridge Station. The Drummond Road site had ample space for expansion and eventually occupied 12 acres.
A series of highly popular lines made Peek Frean one of the largest biscuit-makers in the Country. Peek Frean developed streamlined production methods. It installed the first automatic biscuit making machines in 1928. The company also claimed to be the first firm to put electric lighting in its factories, the first to bring in telephones, and the first to employ female clerks and to use typewriters.
In 1987 the company, which had become part of Associated Biscuits in 1969 and had subsequently changed owners several times, decided to switch production from the Drummond Road factory to its more up-to-date factories in Leicester and Liverpool. The factory finally closed in 1989.
The site was converted into multi-tenanted buildings, with predominately music and media businesses. In 2009 a section of the site was refurbished and renamed The Biscuit Factory providing creative studios and offices.
The Biscuit Factory today
