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H P Sign

Why ...look at all our other famous brands that have gone...
Daddies Sauce was better :)
Now if it was Ansells :Aah: !!!!!!!!!!!!!the date water
 
Why

Why Do I Bother To Put Anything On This Site ?.
Only To Get Negative Remarks
:| :| :| :| :|
 
The way I see it billc is why give the firm extra advertising when they cut and run .....its all about publicity not history ....lets hope McDonald's dont cut an run either....or we could end up with a museum for their signs
 
Cromwell the sign has been there for 100 years they have had all the publicity they need now it is part of our history.

It is certainly part of my history,I passed it every day on my way to work inthe 60s.
I am with you Billc it should be saved.
 
I also think the sign should be saved as it reads HP not Heinz and it was part of Aston for so long. We should also have the Ansells one but maybe we have, I know there are many in storage like our statues. I would have thought if someone approached the developers they would give it to the city. I suppose Chris is getting a few more calls to his show though by talking about it.
 
Strange the things people want to save when so many great statues buildings etc are decaying all around us but each to their own
 
Thank You For Your Support :) ALBERTA AND MOMA P
 
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It's so sad that it is no longer going to be there I used to pass it when I took my husband to work, I think it should be saved and as Moma P said it was HP not heinz so it is part of our history.
 
I really can see your point but I would rather see men and women working there again, sorry:redface:
 
Hi

Not sure on this one. I tend to agree with
the view its was better to have the Jobs.
The Tower itself see photo is it really an
iconic symbol.


Mike Jenks
 
Yes I totally agree with that, but while the labour costs are so much cheaper abroad factories will close down.
 
Hi

Yes this continuing problem of Jobs and Locations.
The Labour costs in Holland where HP Sauce have gone to
are in fact much higher than here.
Spent a few weeks in 2002 touring Dutch plants.
Saw nothing that wasnt in the UK.
Whats critical are the close locations to Belgium France and
Germany. This is the Hub of the EU. Not just Bulbfield
Holland is one of the Largest Petrochemical Countries in
the World.
The big advantage is the old problem of the EU the Euro
and its easier to sack workers in Britain than in Europe.
Adding up site rationalsation exercises spare capacity
in Holland v Aston we lose out all the time.
Whilst the Goverment makes Millions out of Oil
$ v £ all our lads and lassess at work are suffering with this
high pound. At work we made a fortune between $1.25 breakeven
around $1.75. At $2.04 the export lossess are massive.
In the heat of a massive argument I felt that staying out
of the Euro will cost us our Manufacturing Base. Around 1998.
May old place at Longbridge will be a Huge ASDA Plant.
These are typical new Jobs in Britain now.
The huge profits made on Oil thats why we have Wars in Oil
countries now the Vast profits the Finance Insitutions make
in London infact the World makes vasts profits in London
yet we cannot keep a few Jobs in Aston making a product
that symbalises the City.

Mike Jenks
 
I didn't realise that labour costs were higher in Holland you have shocked me, I just presumed thats why they moved there, and your right about the supermarkets they are springing up everywhere and I cannot see why we need that many.
 
Saving HP Sauce

Hi

Old Hourly rate per hour in Euro's
before I left work.
UK rate a few Euro's less not a lot.

Mike Jenks
 
I know this is the HP thread but you ask any country who has converted to the Euro if they would like to go back to their soveriegn currency and it would be a resounding yes!
On my travels abroad I have spoken with the nationals and ex-pats and they all say the same Oh don't give up your pound the Euro is crap, everything is so much more expensive now!
Yes we should have saved HP but we didnt so lets do the next best thing save the sign.................. and don't purchase any more Heinz products, simple as ...... hit em where it hurts ................their pockets !
 
goodbye for now

I would like to apolgise to the members who have been caught up in this cyber conflict.I only wanted people to hear about saving a british companys name.not promote heinz.by keeping the HP name going.I certainly don't buy heinz products in the shops.but with LIDL.ALDI.NETTO. we don't really know where their products are coming from.
May i thank you for for your comments and ask the moderators to delete these posts for the sake of keeping this wonderful site going.I am logging off this site for the time being.until such time i feel happy to come back on.Wishing you all the very best,
bill.
Will keep promoting this site.:)
 
Hey Billc, dont go .............. this is what forums are all about debating, were on your side mate at least I am! And one or two others too.
Last I heard we lived in a democracy, you know that old thing called freedom of speech!!!!!!!!!!!
I dont think anyone has accused you of promoting Heinz, I haven't thats for sure.
I just made the point that we hurt companies in their pockets by not buying their products.
Take care Jude
 
Billc...please don't leave this forum. Aston lost HP and it is sad but
part of an ongoing trend for companies in this day and age to be sold and merged. I would very much like the site to be recognized and if the sign could be incorporated great but if not a heritage plaque with and engraving of the sign as part of it would be super. HP was such a vital part of Aston it has to have some recognition. We all have such super memories of HP and how very important it was to Aston and the local families who had generations of relatives working there. This includes mine as my brother Peter worked there for many years and through many transitions of the company.
 
Billc, as Jude and Jennyann have said please don't leave. I think personally the thread you posted prompted some good discussion on how people feel. I for one would like the sign to be saved for future generations to look at, not just photo's of it in the skyline of Aston. Sometimes the subjects that are close to us generate high emotions. I am absolutley sure no one was offended by your post just the opposite. Please reconsidder, best wishes Wendy.
 
hi there gang ,
I Entirely Agrree With Cromwell Its Only a Sign
We All Have Our Memorys Of The Big Instutute Of HP Sauce
Billc Memories Of Passing The Place On The Bus Daily, Very Good ,
But Some Of Us From Brum And More So Born In Aston
And Lived Yards From The Factory Will Never Forget The Place
And Us Kids Whom Went To The Upper Thomas Street School
Will Never Forget The Place Nor The Sign, Nor The Smell
And How We Used To Race To The Factory Wall In The PlayGround
In The Winter To Keep Warm
Let Get To Save Our Old Building , We Lost Baskerville House
Whats Next ASTONIAN ;;;
 
Billc don't leave you have helped people on this site with some good posts, and had a laugh along the way, so don't go.
 
I don't like to disappoint people but that sign is not 100 years old...I don't think its more than 40 years...or just slightly over...the original sign along with the original buildings were knocked down years ago....the buildings which are now be demos lied were built in the late 50's early 60s...I can remember the houses that stood in Tower Road and Upper Thomas Street were the HP building stands....I would say that the HP building was built between 1960 and 1966...while I was at school at UTS....,

I cannot see the point of saving a sign...(well I can)...but how many other companies have gone over the decades were the sign was as important to the area has much as the HP sign was....Norton, Ansells, Dunlop, Lucas, Atkinsons, Sun Cycles, Hercules, Cylo-Gear, GEC, IMI..etc...and if you reach out futher, Austin, Morris, Wolsey, Lancaster, Metro Cammell, all vehicle makers...the list could be endless....

If you want if you want a keepsake...do what I did...look for something around the building which you can take and keep at home...my example is the blue pavement bricks outside my old school (Upper Thomas Street)...some months ago I was able to find one loose were the school once stood....a few weeks ago I took another trip there dug up a few more (5), took at a slab from the patio, and replaced it with my blue bricks.....a part of Aston that will now always be there for me to see, plus I have a school fire bell from Burlington St school hanging in my study....
 
What a brilliant Hoarder you are JKC wish I had something of my school:)

Billc, Brummies never give up
 
Like you JKC I have two kerbstones from Cromwell St in the back garden which I took when the area was being demolished...and I know a certain youg lady on the forum has got something from the Aston Hipp.
 
I love the keepsake from whatever site you want a memory from idea. My mother-in-law had a piece of the White Cliffs of Dover which she cherished.
Regrets...oh yes. A few years back when they were demolishing the Trinity Road stand at Villa Park I took my son and daughter, as we were all in England at the same time, down to Villa Park very early on the day the bulldozers arrived. For some reason we did not pick up a brick after the dozers moved in. There were a few men there doing exactly that. We have regretted it ever since. My son is quite shy and I don't know where my mind was.:Aah:

I remember when the Bull Ring was beginning to be demolished for the latest remodel, a fellow came across part of the famous Bull logo which had been put up right at the start, in a dumpster. He was only able to salvage the rear legs I think. That's a shame because I feel that sign should have been saved.

I have a piece of Cotswold stone from the railway station that was demolished at Adlestrop on the Cotswold line. My friend Sylvia and her husband John both from Brum bought the station site, all the buildings had gone, and John's dream was to rebuild it. Sylvia is now gone and I am so glad I went to Adlestrop and was given that stone.
 
Ray is something of a scavenger and he bought the whole side wall of the Aston Hippodrome - where we used to queue for the upper gallery, it cost £100 delivered and he cleaned every brick by hand to use in renovating the cottage. He also bought oak beams from Aston Villa from the demolition squad very cheap, and took up a whole entry of blue bricks from void houses in Aston and used round the garden pool in our previous house.
 
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