Symbol Biscuits Limited

In 1938, Lyons & Co., a British company that controlled the largest food empire in Britain at this time, purchased the Bee Bee Biscuit Company, which manufactured biscuits from its factory in Blackpool. Bee Bee Biscuits had originated in 1922 as the Blackpool Biscuit Company. Six years later, Lyons changed Bee Bee Biscuit's name to Symbol Biscuits and began selling biscuits under the Symbol and Lyons brand names.

Symbol manufactured approximately 40 different types of sweet, dry, and savory biscuits packed and sold under the Symbol and Lyons brands, its logo being an elephant's head. The introduction of Maryland Cookies in 1956 brought a significant increase in revenues.

In 1990 Lyons changed Symbol Biscuit's name to Lyons Biscuits Limited. The company continued to trade profitably until December 1994, when the business was sold to a subsidiary of Hillsdown Holidays Plc. for around £20 million. At the time, 780 people worked at the Blackpool factory. Since then, the company has been acquired by a U.S. Investment house and is currently part of Burton's Foods Limited, the second largest biscuit company in the UK.

By Mark Matlach