The story of sugar in Peterborough began on October 4, 1926, when the first load of beet was delivered to the newly-built British Sugar factory in Oundle Road.
In the first season – known in the trade as a campaign – the new Peterborough factory processed 63,384 tonnes of beet, an average of 659 tonnes a day.
Although at the time this was probably pretty good going, in more recent times more than seven million tonnes of beet will be processed across British Sugar’s remaining four factories.
The factory closed in Peterborough in 1991 and the sited was redeveloped for housing.
The company retains a strong presence in the city.
In the early 1950s new offices were built next to the factory and in time became the head office of the company remaining long after the factory was demolished. In 2017 the firm announced it was building a new head office in Hampton.
Here are a selection of pictures from the firm’s time in Peterborough.
