Wrapper from Trebor's Jubilee range.

Trebor Quality Sweets and the story of the Candy Coated Copper.

Robertson & Woodcock, makers of Trebor sweets, opened a small factory in Shaftesbury Road, Forest Gate, in 1907. The large building on the corner of Shaftesbury and Katherine Roads was built in 1937, in the art deco style. It closed in the 1980s along with their other factories in Woodford and Maidstone. In its heyday the Company also owned Sharpe's Toffees and Moffat's (a small business making mainly toffee) and Clarnico, famous for its "Mint Cream".

For many years it was the largest employer in the area and, out of a workforce of about 300, by far the most were women. The factory chimney was the tallest structure in the locality (and possibly still is). Every few years the whole stack was given a coating of linseed oil to weatherproof the brickwork. The company had wanted to extend the works by building on a cleared site which they owned on the corner of Derby and Katherine Roads, linked by a bridge to the main works. These plans were objected to by the borough council on the grounds that it was a largely residential area and intensified manufacturing could not be agreed to, so the plans were not pursued.

When the Company closed the 1980s the Trebor brand was bought by Cadbury Schweppes (itself recently bought out by Kraft) and production was transferred to Bourneville. The old factory was divided up into smaller units - mainly of the "sweat-shop" kind. It was bought by developers Hollybrook who converted it into 51 live/work apartments sold on 125 year leases at a starting price of £164,000 per unit, which began to go on sale in 2003.The developers reinstated the TREBOR QUALITY SWEETS slogan on the frontage.

The former extension site across the road mentioned above is only now (2010) being developed and a tall steel framework has been erected.

Tin Box Manufacturing and Printing Works, 133 & 135 High Street, Stratford. 

An eco-friendly electric van of the India Rubber and Gutta-Percha factory in Silvertown.