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Blue plaque celebrates former home of KitKat

Seb CheerYork
News imageBBC/Seb Cheer A rectangle blue plaque reads: Rowntree's Cocoa Works. Former Chocolate Factory of the world-famous KitKat. between the 1890s and 2006, this factory pioneered progressive workers' welfare for the tens of thousands who passed along this path, sharing a strong sense of friendship and community through work and leisure.BBC/Seb Cheer
The plaque unveiled by the York Civic Trust replicates blue packaging used on Kit Kats during second world war rationing

A blue plaque celebrating the factory where KitKats were produced for nearly 70 years has been unveiled.

The marker has been installed at the former Rowntree's site in Haxby Road, York.

Opened in the 1890s the factory was where KitKats were invented in the 1930s and manufactured until production was moved to a new site in 2006.

Normandy veteran Ken Cooke, who worked at Rowntree's for more than 49 years and attended the unveiling on Friday, said the factory had a "history no other factory has".

"The facilities here were magnificent for the workers," the 100-year-old said.

"There was always something for them to do and I'm sure there was practically no absentees."

News imageBBC/Seb Cheer An older man, Ken, looks into the camera and smiles. He is wearing a shirt and tie underneath a fleece and sits outside with a large brick building in the background.BBC/Seb Cheer
Normandy veteran Ken Cooke spent almost half a century working at the Rowntree's factory

Entrepreneur and philanthropist Joseph Rowntree created facilities for workers near the factory, including a theatre and swimming pool.

Nearby, the model village of New Earswick was built for workers.

"Things like that don't happen nowadays," Cooke said.

The factory was redeveloped into apartments after its closure in 2006 and renamed as the Cocoa Works.

News imageBorthwick Institute/Heritage Images/Getty Images Gardeners planting a bedding display. A black and white photo with four gardeners in the foreground and the factory building in the background.Borthwick Institute/Heritage Images/Getty Images
The Cocoa Works factory was surrounded by facilities for workers and gardens, pictured here in 1955

Dr Duncan Marks, planning and heritage manager at York Civic Trust, said the building was "really really important" to York.

"One in ten people [in the city] in the early 20th Century worked for the Rowntree's Chocolate Factory."

He said future generations would know the origin of the KitKat because of the plaque, which also celebrated the community.

"It wasn't just a place where you would come to work, you'd socialise, there were clubs, there was sport, there were activities."

He said the plaque itself was designed to resemble the blue packaging was used for KitKats during rationing in World War Two.

News imageYork Civic Trust The Lord Mayor of York, Sherriff's Consort and Dr Duncan Marks from the York Civic Trust, all wearing suits, hold the blue plaque. The factory is in the background.York Civic Trust
The plaque was unveiled by the Lord Mayor of York (left), the Sherriff's Consort and Dr Duncan Marks (right)

Cooke, who is York's last surviving D-Day veteran, was among a number of servicemen and women employed by Rowntree's before and after their military service.

He worked in nine different roles at the site, ranging from transport to producing some of the first Polo mints.

At the unveiling on Friday, he shared memories including a colleague mistaking a glass of liquid peppermint for lemonade on a hot summer's day.

"He had a good drink of it. He was dancing around. He was under the tap for about half an hour trying to get the taste of the peppermint away," Cooke laughed.

"There was all different things like that happening. We had a lot of fun here."

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