Hales Trent Cakes
of 29 Skeltons Lane, Leyton. Factory at Clevedon
formerly the Hales Home Bakeries
1935 Hales Home Bakeries (Clevedon Ltd).[1]
1962 Hales Trent Cakes was formed by the merger of the Far Famed Cake Co and John Trent. Owned by Fitch Lovell.[2]
1974 Hales Trent Cakes were sold to J. Lyons and Co.
1988 Factory in Clevedon closed with loss of 500 jobs.[3]
'THE closure of Clevedon’s Hale-Trent cake factory marks the end of an era for a business which started with the creation of a fruit cake. Just over 60 years ago master baker’s wife Daisy Hale created the Granny Cake, a tasty fruit cake the dawn of a thriving cake industry in Clevedon. Mrs Hale’s husband Frank delivered the cakes alongside his bread and buns and soon business was booming for Hales Home Bakery in Old Street. The tiny shop and bakery expanded rapidly over the 15 years from 1926 and was later merged with John Trent of East London in 1962. Hale Trent Cakes Ltd was taken over by J. Lyons in 1974 and operated as a separate company within the group until 1984 when rapidly changing market conditions led to the integration of the Hale Trent sales operation into Lyons Bakery and further integration last year. The factory’s closure with the loss of nearly 500 jobs sees the end of a long standing traditional industry in Clevedon. For many years the West’s biggest cake factory has produced both branded and private label cakes sponges and slices and has retained the traditional method of hand-rolling Swiss Rolls When the giant ovens cool down for the final time next August the factory’s team of Swiss-Rollers will bid a final fond farewell to the 30 miles of sponge produced each week'[4]