A hidden vault under the old Astoria nightclub has been unearthed by Crossrail builders and it has revealed an unexpected history of one of Britain’s first condiment suppliers.
At a time when city centre industry was commonplace, pickles, jams and ketchup once flowed into jars bottled in Soho by the Crosse & Blackwell company. At the height of its operations in the area, the company owned a massive warehouse on Charing Cross Road, which later became the Astoria nightclub.
The building was torn down as part of the TCR tube station upgrades for Crossrail and London Underground, and during the works, MOLA archaeologists discovered the vault, packed full of 19th and 20th century pickle pots, jam jars and essence bottles.
The finds include glass bottles for Mushroom Catsup (today we call it ketchup), ceramic bung jars for mustard and Piccalilli, and painted white jars for Preserved Ginger.
The finds are giving researchers a rare insight into the history of British food manufacture and development and offer a glimpse into the birth and development of products that still sit within kitchen cupboards today.
(although probably not the mushroom flavoured ketchup)
Archaeologists also found white earthenware jars for Pure Orange Marmalade, Household Raspberry Jam and Plum Jam, some of which still have their original labels.
Crosse & Blackwell was in fact one of the first companies to industrialise the production of jam, and hence lower its cost for city dwellers who wanted what had been generally a home made product until then.
Nigel Jeffries, MOLA’s Medieval and Later Pottery Specialist and author of a book about the discovery commented that: “Excavations on Crosse & Blackwell’s Soho factory produced a large and diverse collection of pottery and glass related to their products, with one cistern alone containing nearly three tonnes of Newcastle made marmalade jars with stoneware bottles and jars. We think this is the biggest collection of pottery ever discovered in a single feature from an archaeological site in London.”
Crosse & Blackwell started off as a joint venture by two friends, and by 1840, they had opened a shop and bottling plant in Soho Square. Within 4 years they had three buildings fronting Soho Square, and a large bottling plant behind, and later, the warehouse building fronting onto Charing Cross Road.
That warehouse later became the Astoria nightclub – maybe the legacy of all that jam explains why the floors always felt a bit… sticky.
They were also one of the first companies to receive a Royal Warrant from the newly crowned Queen Victoria in 1837 and also one of the first brands to use celebrity chefs and authors for the endorsement and development of their products and employed Alexis Soyer, Charles Francatelli and Signor Quallioti, chef to Napoleon, who introduced Crosse & Blackwell’s Piccalilli to the market.
Crosse & Blackwell manufactured, bottled and packaged their products on this site until 1921, which according to one Daily Graphic journalist led to “a very distinctive pungency to the surrounding atmosphere” and more directly, a “suffocating effluvium” according to the local Medical Officer for Health at the time.
In 1924, one of the Soho buildings was demolished and turned into a new head office for the firm, although it was vacated later and occupied by the legendary GPO Film Unit, and today, by a theatre tickets agency.
Underneath the site of the former bottling plant, around 13,000 finds were recovered from a cistern, a number of these were whole ceramics and pieces of glassware. They were used as landfill and therefore were protected and well-preserved. Crosse & Blackwell had the Victorian entrepreneurial spirit and therefore the cistern was installed as part of the ongoing development and remodelling of the many buildings that they acquired around Soho Square to facilitate growth and development.
Since Crossrail began construction in 2009, more than 200 archaeologists have unearthed over 10,000 objects from 40 locations, spanning 55 million years. The findings of the archaeology programme – the biggest ever undertaken in the UK – are now being published in a series of 10 books.
The Crosse & Blackwell finds are studied in the latest book, released this month called: ‘Crosse & Blackwell 1830-1921: A British Food Manufacturer in London’s West End’. The book explores the expansion of the Crosse & Blackwell empire and how the location of the business and Victorian entrepreneurial spirit facilitated the rapid growth and development that cemented the brand as one of Victorian England’s lasting legacies.
The Elizabeth Line opens in December 2019.
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Mushroom Ketchup is still very much a thing and it’s good (and nothing at all like tomato ketchup). http://m.tesco.com/h5/groceries/r/www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=251225471&sc_cmp=ppc-_-sh-_-msh-_-bg-_-px_%7C_shopping_gsc_%7C_all_products-_-&gclid=CjwKEAiA48fDBRDJ24_imejhwUkSJAAr0M5k5qxS721VGy4epa-tGbNaL1zzBQGI0A9urWx2STr4_RoCA4Pw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
Yes it’s a great vegetarian alternative to Worcester Sauce! I have some in my cupboard now.
I was coming here to say the same. I use it all the time, either to flavour steaks or as an alternative to Worcester sauce. I always have a bottle in my fridge
I have food shipped out to Crete from an Internet company called The British Corner Shop, and in my last delivery was Mushroom Ketchup made by Geo Watkins.So iit is still available. They also do Anchovy Sauce.
I live in Norway and have considered this site..is it goo
Yum yum! Will check this out at Waitrose etc. X
Count me among those who was going to mention mushroom ketchup! Unlike the more familiar tomato kind, it is a liquid that you add to soups, stews, etc, and is really delicious. Sainsbury’s sell it.
fantastic reading
LovelLovely stuff, Ian. Keep it coming! Happy New Year.
Lovely stuff, Ian. Keep it coming! Happy New Year.
Interesting but not exactly news. This was widely reported about 3 years ago.
Maybe the find is not news, but now we can read about it in detail in one of the new publications. That’s the point surely?
It’s VERY interesting for those of us who hadn’t read it before!
Thanks Ian.
For the community of 200+ ex-Astoria crew who still meet annually to toast her passing, this has been a nice bit of background, thanks!
Would you like to hear my Astoria ghost story?
Dan
Yes, Dan.
Yes please!
Interesting reading. I go beachcombing in Wales near an old dump site and find amazing pottery shards and bottle stoppers.
Yes Dan, I love a ghost story, please tell us !
YES!! I was an Astoria raver back in the early 90s, I didn’t even know people still met up for Astoria Reunions! Please have a look for me on fb Amanda Ella Mental Lomas.
I have a couple of “tales from the Astoria” dating from the ’80s. What larks!!
very interesting and a pity that the building will be destroyed
think it should be saved
Fascinating story!
Super super super, now retired from 40 +years in food production in East Anglia and as child from London suburbs, seems unreal that Crosse n Blackwall had a production plant in Soho. totally amazed.
thanks Ian
How did I know the comments section would have a priority link to Mushroom Ketchup? Internet best post ever! Excellent and fascinating article.
Does anybody know what will happen to all of these finds? Will we be able to go and see them somewhere?
An exhibition is opening next month.
Where and how long for is the exhibition going to be open for ?
Very interesting! Thanks for sharing the info. I look forward to reading more of your blog.
I wonder if the Jam ever played there?
Ha ha ha – or indeed Marmalade:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marmalade_(band)
Maybe not Las Ketchup though:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Ketchup
Well they certainly did cut the mustard!
Is it still edible?
Thought the article on Astoria N/club, ex Crosse and Blackwell find, very interesting.
Surely Crossrail must now be referred to as Cross&Blackrail
Ode to the Astoria… https://youtu.be/Rw9UwJr5f8I
My Mum worked for Crosses and Blackwell in Silvertown East London.
Is it true they now to call it the Picallilli Line?
My Mum used to have a few jars of about this vintage. Use-by-dates? You must be joking!
If trains are delayed passengers will be Cross & Blacklooked.
I worked for crossrail at Stockley Junction and found several fossils in the offices working for Carillion Rail.
I worked at the astoria theatre at the end of 1977 to 1978, supplying the lighting and equipment for the forthcoming new musical’Elvis! I didnt realise that it had been demolished as i live abroad and therefore out of touch with developments in london and the uk, my cousin ian albery was at the time technical adviser to the astoria when it was converted for that show.
Another fascinating item. I live in NE England but never miss my London updates from Ian. Thanks
What happens to this site? Does it eventually get demolished, or removed, or filled in with concrete, or do they build over it and these old vaults become part of a basement?