Anyone Remember Sutherlands Spread Factory

[MICK BADGER 21]

8 hours ago, DavidFrance said:

I have a recollection that Sutherlands were the first peacetime occupants of the former National Fire Service building in Ecclesall Road, alongside the Tesco/Shopping Centre. That would be from about 1946/7 .  When they moved from there it became, eventually, that parade of shops that includes the Sheffield shop.   Does anyone else recall that? 

Im sure that was hartleys beef spread factory not sutherlands

[Morts 17]

Must admit I remember Sutherlands Spreads from Alistair Sutherland winning the 1986 British Rally Championship in his 3litre Metro 6R4. What a car!
After Sutherlands Spreads, he set up Granny Mary’s. As per the name of the OP.

[Mossway 15]

Didn’t they sell the company and the name at one stage and then two of the grandchildren started a similar company/product but couldn’t call it Sutherland’s ?
Also, didn’t Peter S at some stage own the Millstone at Hathersage ?

[echo beach 581]

On 23/02/2021 at 18:46, MICK BADGER said:

Im sure that was hartleys beef spread factory not sutherlands

Correct Mick.

 

In the 1960s my mum drove a van for them from Ecclesall Road, delivering potted meat and maybe other products to shops in and around the city and also in Derbyshire.

In the very bad winter of '62 she was on the home run descending from Owler Bar towards Totley when the van skidded, hit a dry stone wall and flipped over it into a field, landing on its roof.

Pity she didn't work for Martini 'cause she was shaken but not stirred!

The potted meat must have had a good reputation because I came across an article on Grindleford.com written by Alan Jacques describing how 'customers would wait at his parents' shop front in the village for the Hartley's potted meat van to arrive. Many brought their own bowls to be filled from the large basins that it came in'.

They had deliveries twice a week and that driver could well have been my mum.

 

echo.

[DavidFrance 19]

On 23/02/2021 at 18:46, MICK BADGER said:

Im sure that was hartleys beef spread factory not sutherlands

You are right. Thank you for putting my memory straight.

On 24/02/2021 at 23:39, echo beach said:

Correct Mick.

 

In the 1960s my mum drove a van for them from Ecclesall Road, delivering potted meat and maybe other products to shops in and around the city and also in Derbyshire.

In the very bad winter of '62 she was on the home run descending from Owler Bar towards Totley when the van skidded, hit a dry stone wall and flipped over it into a field, landing on its roof.

Pity she didn't work for Martini 'cause she was shaken but not stirred!

The potted meat must have had a good reputation because I came across an article on Grindleford.com written by Alan Jacques describing how 'customers would wait at his parents' shop front in the village for the Hartley's potted meat van to arrive. Many brought their own bowls to be filled from the large basins that it came in'.

They had deliveries twice a week and that driver could well have been my mum.

 

echo.

But in Sharrow and Nether Edge I think the "home made" potted beef created by Winnie, the shop assistant at Topham's Bakery on Wostenholme Road, was far superior. Made a couple of times a week, it filled the back room with delicious aromas of slow cooked beef. I delivered bread  (on a bike with a basket) for them for a couple of years and it was one of my "perks" along with a bagful of cakes etc most nights.   

[max 13]

I used to do the mail collections from there in the 70s/80s and each Friday there would be a tray of mixed variety pots, 12 I think, on the top of the mail bag.

[Sandra T 0]

Hi everyone

 

I recently had a free sample of Granny Mary's potted beef, left by my milkman.  The accompanying leaflet gave the  background of this, orginating and now made again by the Sutherland family.  I remember, being born on Britannia Road in Darnall,  the building on the corner of Catcliffe Road and Senior Road which is now ATI Tyres as being something to do with Sutherlands.   My parents and grandparents  all lived at one time or another in Ashworth Cottages on Britannia Road and potted beef ( or 'potted dog' as my family called it!)  was a family favourite.  It tastes as good as I remember it.    My grandma and great grandma had a shop on the other corner diagonally opposite the Halfway pub, on the corner of Britannia Road and Catcliffe Road.  This was before I was born but they used to make their own ice cream and it is quite likely they would have sold Sutherlands products.     

 

[balbs 0]

One of my best ever student  jobs was at Hartleys driving a van for them as a summer holiday relief driver - forget exactly what year - must have been between '77 and '80.  I remember the factory on Ecclesall road having large vats of boiling potted beef and a garden shed out the back in the yard where the spices were mixed up - woe betide anyone who ventured there.  The first day  i worked there my van was loaded up and I was just given a list of shops, many on the outskirts of Sheffield.  No google maps then and when I struggled back about 5 pm the factory was locked up!  I was convinced my summer job was going to be one day long and I turned up sheepishly the next morning, but the boss just said I would get used to it.  I started to learn the round and was getting pretty good  but the other drivers (about four) seemed to be a bit wary of me, until driving back one day about 2pm I spotted their vans parked up in a well known hostelry on the outskirts.... I marched in, told them the boss had sent me out to find them and watched their crestfallen faces for a couple of seconds, then said not really and mines a pint.  After that all was well.... 

 

A couple of details I remember - one was that at the time the factory still had a number of ceramic dishes as well as plastic ones which were like large pie dishes (the shops sold potted meat by weight), which the shops had to pay a small amount of deposit for.  All the drivers fiddled the deposit money to pay for a lunchtime sandwich (the boss told me on my last day he knew everyone did it).  The shops in the mining villages would always ask for 'fresh' potted meat - by this they meant the potted meat had been made that morning and had not been in the fridge and was still warm (and I remember it being runny - apparently this was an acquired taste!).  There was never enough 'fresh' for everyone and it was delicate balancing act keeping all the shopkeepers happy. 

 

We also sold joints of meat on commission and potted salmon and there was one independent supermarket where I would offload anything I hadnt sold that day - I still feel a bit guilty that I charmed the young shop assistant into believing that the store had actually ordered everything I gave them.  

 

Now living 'down south' I still hanker for potted beef (and never pate please!) and recently bought some Sutherlands at the market in Bakewell which is pretty good.

Edited March 16, 2022 by balbs
minor

[trastrick 866]

On 22/02/2021 at 06:53, mikeG said:

We had a neighbour in Fulwood. Surname Reynolds. Rumour had it that he had connections with Sutherlands. Thats going back to 1965.

I recall meeting the Turner family in 1980,

 

They apparently owned Sutherlands then.

 

Anybody have info?

[last orders 10]

Did a Mrs Edmundson own or run one of these potted meat companies in the 60s/70s

[Paul wilkinson 0]

On 22/02/2021 at 09:44, Granny Marys said:

Morning all

Just wondered if any of you remembered Sutherland Spreads?

I worked at the factory in Handsworth for 16 years I made all the spreads produced I only left because the business was sold