Thorntons in The 30s
By the early 1930s Thorntons were aware that their successful formula could be expanded over the North of England and maybe even to Scotland. They remained unsure of the South, believing that the consumption of confectionery was linked to average ambient temperature. They also saw their products as part of the culture of the region and were not convinced that Southerners would ever want to buy a product such as Thorntons. The Scots, on the other hand, were known to have a very sweet tooth and perhaps would buy even more than the English. It goes without saying that their assumptions about Southerners proved to be completely unfounded.
Mancunians got their first taste of Thorntons’ products in 1932 with a shop on Oxford Street, only the second branch to open outside Sheffield. It was followed by a shop at 37a Boar Lane in Leeds, appropriately the area in which the family had lived for centuries.
The brothers decided in 1934 on a purpose-built factory instead of relying on rented premises. They chose Archer Road, surrounded by new suburban estates designed to re-house council tenants from the slum clearance programmes after the First World War. This site was about four miles (6 km) south of the city centre with cleaner air and closer to the countryside. The factory was a modest 2,000 sq ft (190 m2). on each floor, two years later they built a similar-sized extension.
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