Co-operative Wholesale Society Factories
Intro & Town Index

As a lad I served an apprenticeship with the C.W.S Engineering Dept, Hanover Street, Manchester, and was "reet" proud when I finally came out of "my time",in 1966, as a Journeyman Electrician in the Electrical Contracting Industry. Then I really learnt what it was to be an electrician.
Back in the Swinging 60s (1960s) we were the highest paid trade on the building sites of Britain, and I worked with the C.W.S up to becoming 27 years old.
During those years at the C.W.S I worked at a number of the factories putting in new machinery, mending old machines, relighting old buildings, building new etc... meeting a variety of people from various walks of life and parts of the country.

In it's Heyday the Co-operative Wholesale Society had factories, farms, offices, dairies, creameries all over the world and supplied, certainly a large proportion of the people of Britain, with most of the products they needed in their everyday life.
A giant in it's day, as most towns & villages had a Co-op, usually with a minimum of a grocers, butchers, greengrocery and dry goods shop, maybe it still is, but more..... a sleeping Giant.

It is possible the products made in the towns are a sample of the local industry, but not necessarilly so.