Not a lot of people know that Tetley’s tea has its roots in Huddersfield.
The company was started in Huddersfield by brothers Joseph and Edward Tetley almost 200 years ago.
They sold it from a pack horse in the early 1800s and by 1837 had established a business on Chapel Hill that became so successful they moved their headquarters to London in 1856 to set up Joseph Tetley & Company, Wholesale Tea Dealers.
It became the first to company to sell tea in teabags in the United Kingdom in 1953 and went on to conquer the world and provide the inspiration for flat cap legends Gaffer, Sidney, Tina and the rest of the Tetley Tea Folk.
So why are we telling you this?
Well, a cup of tea has been declared the number six choice in 20-strong list of icons that fill the nation with pride. This involved a poll of 2,000 people and analysis of a British attitude survey commissoned by Tetley’s and carried out by NatCen Social Research.
Number one, you’ll be proud to learn, was a roast dinner complete with Yorkshire pudding which pushed fish and chips into second place with the BBC third, the Union Jack flag fourth and Wimbeldon fifth.
And here’s the rest: 7 The Underground, 8 The Royal Family, 8 Only Fools And Horses, 10 The Beatles, 11 The NHS, 12 London, 13 Buckingham Palace, 14 Red Buses, 15 Winston Churchill, 16 The Queen, 17 Queuing, 18 cream tea, 19 James Bond, 20 Stonehenge.
