meet wikipedia s quality standards . no cleanup reason has been specified . please help improve this article if you can . june 2009 learn how and when to remove this template message needler s industry confectionery founded 1886 approximately ; purchase of predecessor company 1902 incorporated as fred needler ltd. 1906 name changed to needler ltd. founder fred needler headquarters kingston upon hull england website ashbury.co.uk needler s was a sweet manufacturer based in kingston upon hull england . the company was founded in the 19th century and sold to hillsdown holdings in 1986 . contents 1 history 2 sale of company ; post sale activity 3 references 3.1 sources history edit needler s owes its existence to frederick needler who was born at arnold skirlaugh near kingston upon hull england on 12 december 1864 . the family name appears to have been mis spelt as frederick was the son of george needley a paint factory employee who died from typhoid in september 1872 age 37 . frederick attended st john s school newland in hull . his first job in about 1878 at age fourteen was in a tea and coffee warehouse in high street . in the 1881 census he is described as a grocer s apprentice . at age eighteen he became a bookkeeper to edward buckton who had a small manufacturing confectionery business near paragon station in hull . in about 1886 using money from his mother he bought this business for 100 . he moved the premises to anne street where he is known to have had two staff a sugar boiler and a boy named watson . they had a horse and cart for making deliveries . there were many firms of this type in hull at the time usually operating within a geographical range determined by the stamina of their horses . frederick needler soon moved into wholesaling occupying various premises to the north of paragon station until he bought 9 and 11 spring street in 1898 which is when company records started to be produced . in 1899 1900 there was a turnover of about 15 000 and profit of 781 about 5 % . production had reached about ten tons per week . there were ten female and twenty three male employees producing over two hundred different products chiefly boiled sweets and toffees . the company also acted as wholesalers for other brands such as cadburys frys and rowntrees . in marketing terms growth was greatly helped by the switch from green to clear glass jars thereby improving the appearance . the company was incorporated on 27 october 1902 as fred needler ltd. when the directors were fred needler at 250 per annum alfred thorpe 160 and joseph cooper wilson 140 . there were 6 000 shares of which 5 416 were owned by frederick needler and 1 by his wife . the first minute books also date from this time . in 1906 new larger premises were built on bournemouth street off sculcoates lane in hull . the move was accompanied by a change in name to needlers ltd. an increasing demand for sweets led to a decline in the wholesale operation which ceased by 1912 . by this time the product range included 576 lines including 74 in chocolate . a new chocolate plant began operations on the same site in august 1916 . turnover which was 95 000 in 1913 14 peaked at 664 000 in 1920 . by the early 1920s average turnover was 570 000 representing 650 tons of chocolate and 1 500 tons of sweets with a range now including christmas boxes and easter eggs . there were 1 700 employees mainly female with many more employed on a seasonal especially pre christmas and pre easter basis . however although the company was large it was not a truly national firm and never had more than about one per cent of the market . in 1927 the factory packing areas were air conditioned enabling sweet packing to continue in all weathers . sweet wrappers were introduced in the early 1920s but this process was undertaken by hand until the first wrapping machines were introduced in 1928 . until 1918 goods were delivered locally by horse and cart or van and nationally by rail . increased volume necessitated a fleet of delivery vans working from hull and from rail depots in london manchester nottingham and grimsby . there were forty vehicles by 1927 each with a chocolate brown livery for advertising purposes . in 1950 rail distribution was abandoned in favour of road following the decision by british railways to move into lump shunting which resulted in large scale breakages of chocolates . in 1965 there were still fifty vans and drivers . needlers was badly hit by the depression the worst year being 1931 when turnover was 328 000 and profits just 5 000 . this coincided with frederick needler s deterioration in health with parkinson s disease from which he died on 30 september 1932 age 67 leaving 147 956 . 1 he had become well known as a strong supporter of the liberal cause and as a local benefactor including the gift of a house in cottingham to be used as a student hall of residence needler hall for the newly established hull university college . he was succeeded as managing director by his son percival . in 1938 the company s chemists found a way of producing clear or glace fruit drops an area in which the company was to have little or no competition until the mid 1960s . consequently the emphasis of production shifted away from chocolate where cadburys rowntrees and mars dominated towards sweets . sweets and their raw materials were rationed between 1941 and february 1953 . thereafter demand particularly for glace fruit drops shot up . in 1958 needlers became a publicly quoted company although the needler family retained a controlling interest . percival needler retired in 1970 age 70 and was succeeded by his son raymond as managing director . he immediately bought the london based toffee manufacturers batgers known for their jersey brand and for producing sainsbury s own brands . chocolate production which was heavily loss making was ended in 1976 when production was concentrated on glace fruits and toffees . in 1980 dickson orde and co. a small confectionery manufacturer based at farnham in surrey was purchased . in the early 1980s export markets particularly the united states and the middle east were opened up for the first time . the company was well known for its fair treatment of employees . profit sharing was introduced as early as 1911 there were good social and sports facilities and a mixed voiced choir needlers music society was established in 1925 . sale of company ; post sale activity edit in 1986 the company was bought by hillsdown holdings . raymond needler retired in 1987 . 2 in 1996 needler s was sold by its owner the norwegian company nidar to blue bird confectionery a subsidiary of singapore based jack chia mph . 3 the company was renamed needler blue bird confectionery in 2000 . 2 in 2001 jack chia mph entered into negotiations to sell the subsidiary and the sale of needler blue bird to ashbury confectionery was completed in 2002 . 4 5 the factory in sculcoates hull was subsequently closed 6 the site of the factory was redeveloped as a housing estate needler s way . 7 references edit sweet talk whittaker nicholas orion books london 1998 . a b humble beginnings of family firm that grew into a major employer yorkshire post 13 february 2002 singapore group jack chia mph unit buys uk confectioner europolitics 24 january 1996 retrieved 18 september 2012 ashbury buys needler blue bird the grocer 26 january 2002 ashbury set for needler buy the grocer william reed business media 1 december 2001 retrieved 18 september 2012 hull factory set for closure the grocer 16 february 2002 morton jean a local history walk around stepney & sculcoates pdf stepney school sources edit needler raymond 1993 . needlers of hull . hutton press beverley east riding of yorkshire england . isbn 978 1 872167 55 8 . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title needler % 27s & oldid 647119980 categories 1886 establishments in the united kingdom1880s establishments in englandbrand name confectionerydefunct 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