The famous design that adorns tins of Lyle’s Golden Syrup has been named by the Guinness World Records as the world’s oldest branding.
The distinctive packaging has hardly changed since 1885.
The Lyle's Golden Syrup tin is still one of the most familiar sights in British kitchens - consumer surveys show the brand is so familiar that it is instantly recognised by 86 per cent of shoppers.
The Lyle’s story began in 1883 when Abram Lyle, a Scottish businessman, set up a sugar refinery in London.
Everyone knew that the sugar cane refining process produced a treacly syrup, but it was canny Lyle who discovered this by-product could be refined to make a delicious sweet spread and sweetener for cooking.
This syrup was poured into wooden casks and sold it to his workers and local customers. Word spread fast and in a few short months, a tonne a week was being sold.
Wooden casks soon gave way to large Lyle's Golden Syrup dispensers being displayed on the shelves of grocery stores.
Lyle's Golden Syrup was first poured into tins in 1885. Today nearly a million tins leave the Plaistow Wharf factory on the banks of the River Thames each month.
The Victorian-style design of the tin has altered little over the years; although the tin itself was made from strong cardboard during the war years when metal was in short supply.
Abram Lyle had strong religious beliefs, which is why the tin features a quotation from the Bible: "Out of the strong came forth sweetness".
But no-one knows why Abram chose that particular line – was he referring to the tin holding the syrup; or the company producing it?
The syrup tins were certainly strong. Explorer Captain Scott took some on his ill-fated Antarctic expedition in 1910. In 1956 one of the cans was discovered by explorers with the syrup inside still in good condition.
Dr Kate Thomas, an expert on Victorian Literature and Culture at Bryn Mawr College, Philadelphia, said: “When you slip a spoon into Lyle’s Golden Syrup you are dipping into the nineteenth century.
“The Lyle’s Golden Syrup tin is itself a piece of history. Its image of the lion and the bees and the biblical quotation, testify to a peculiarly Victorian mix of moralism, industrial drive and budding concern for social welfare.
“The nineteenth century was the boom era for packaged foods and many of the named brands of biscuits, chocolate and condiments that we still know and use, were developed in the nineteenth century.
“But Lyle’s Golden Syrup is singular for hardly changing its packaging, and its design is as ornamented and distinctively Victorian as the Victoria and Albert Museum, St Pancras Station or Harrods.”
Alison Ashman, Senior Brand Manager for Lyle’s Golden Syrup said: “Lyle’s Golden Syrup has gained iconic status over the years, not only because it tastes great but because we’ve kept the original packaging. While we’ve extended our product range and added other formats, we know that the green and gold tin will always have a place on Britain’s kitchen shelves as people are stuck on it!”
Nowadays there is a vast Lyle’s Golden Syrup range which includes the classic tins, easy-pour bottles, maple flavoured syrup, Lyle’s Black Treacle, flavoured topping Lyle’s Squeezy Syrups and jars of spreadable Lyle’s Golden Spread.
And it’s not just popular in this country - people as far afield as USA, China, South Africa, Australia and Yemen are all fans of this classic British product.
GOLDEN SYRUP FACTS
* Lyle's Golden Syrup was first poured into tins in 1885.
* In 1921 the business started by Abram Lyle merged with Henry Tate & Sons, a sugar refining business started by Sir Henry Tate in 1869. The new company became Tate & Lyle. Henry Tate and Abram Lyle probably never met, despite operating refineries less than two miles apart in East London. It was their descendents who formed the business. Today, Tate & Lyle is the only cane sugar refiner in the UK, and the largest in Europe.
* Lyle's Golden Syrup tins are made from flat sheets of tin-plated steel. The flat sheets are rolled from each end to make hollow tubes, and then the base and other components are added immediately before the tins are filled with Lyle's Golden Syrup. They are filled at speeds of up to 240 tins per minute.
* Lyle's Golden Syrup was awarded a Royal Warrant in 1921 and it's been proudly displayed on the tin ever since.
* Today nearly a million tins leave the Plaistow factory each month.
*Well-known as a topping for porridge and pancakes, Lyle’s Golden Syrup also has more unusual uses - make-up artists mix Lyle’s Golden Syrup with red food dye to make ‘blood’ for film and TV scenes.
* The Three Ways House Hotel in the Cotswolds has a ‘Syrup Sponge Room’ inspired by Lyle's Golden Syrup. The bed has been created to look like a sponge pudding with syrup drizzling from it and the room is adorned with Lyle's Golden Syrup paraphernalia - even a standard lamp cleverly constructed using empty syrup tins.
* The Lyle's Golden Syrup brand is worth an estimated £19.3 million.
* Tate & Lyle (who own the Lyle’s Golden Syrup brand) was one of the original companies in the FT-30 index founded in 1935. There are only three constituents from the original FT-30 index still listed today – GKN, ICI and Tate & Lyle.
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