Mark Palmer salutes his ancestors, who founded Huntley & Palmers
Silly, really, but whenever someone asked where I grew up, it was with some embarrassment that I’d reply, ‘Reading’. I always harboured affection for the place, despite being aware of its shortcomings. Much of the architecture was grim. Progress in the 1960s and ’70s was measured by how many shopping centres and one-way systems the town planners could get away with. But I was invited back there recently to celebrate ‘Reading – Biscuit Town’ in the company of the Mayor, the Vice-Chancellor of Reading University and other local dignitaries. We were marking the 200th anniversary of Huntley & Palmers. The Palmers arrived on the scene in 1841, and in 1822 Joseph Huntley opened his first baker’s shop at 72 London Street, Reading. There are bicentenary lectures about the company’s former 25-acre site opposite Reading Gaol. You can take a Huntley & Palmers audio trail ‘through the world of biscuits’. Do...
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