Shropshire family poultry firm ruled the roost
The product name was familiar on the dinner tables of a nation – Chukie chickens.
From its base in the south Shropshire countryside J P Wood rose to become one of the largest poultry producers in Britain in the 1960s and 1970s. Its customers even included the Prime Minister of the day.
But a little over 30 years ago it all came to an end, meaning the loss of 500 jobs to the Craven Arms area.
Yet the memories endure.
"There is a Facebook site called Chukie Chicken Was The Best with over 600 members, with regular posts, and there is a permanent display of the history of the company in The Land of Lost Content museum in Craven Arms," says Patrick Wood, one of the family which founded the business.
"Best place I ever worked in! Remember all the 'girls on the line' and the bus in from Ludlow (used to catch it from the Portcullis)," is just one Facebook post recalling times working at the plant.
Chukie was the brand name of the company's chickens, turkeys and ducks. The firm, says Patrick, traced its roots back to 1834 when it was trading in poultry and game in south Shropshire.
"In 1956 the four Wood brothers, Wilmot, Jim, Charlie and Basil, moved to The Grove, the site of an old mansion near Craven Arms that had been recently demolished. It became the company's headquarters. The four were the pioneers of the modern poultry industry.
"It went there with 14 staff. The company rapidly expanded and in 1965, under its holding name Midland Poultry Holdings, went public and was floated on the London stock exchange.
"By 1968 it was sold to Unilever with all management retained. There was quite phenomenal growth for the next 13 years. My father Charlie Wood, the founding chairman, headed the company. When he retired in 1978 the company employed 1,300 people, making it one of the largest employers in Shropshire.
"It had built three processing plants, three hatcheries, and many farms, and had three million birds on the floor at any one time.
"The company held the record for the heaviest turkey in the world at over 80lbs and featured in the Guinness Book of World Records. It also regularly won first prize at the International Poultry Show at Olympia, London."
Patrick, who worked in the marketing department from 1970 to 1978, added: "Although The Grove closed in 1990 parts of the business still exist – the hatchery at Affcot owned by Hooks who supply the 2 Sisters Food Group.
"There is also a complex on Anglesey that the company built in the 1970s which is now owned by the 2 Sisters group and I believe employs over 600 and is probably Anglesey's largest employer. The group is now the largest poultry producer in the UK.
"In Craven Arms The Grove is now occupied by Britpart which employs many hundreds of people."
