Bacon Factory Trallee

The Co-operative Wholesale Society opened a bacon factory in September 1901 in Upper Rock Street, Tralee in 1900-1901. It was bounded on the North side by the Railway to North Kerry and the Port of Fenit. Large quantities of bacon, hams, sausages and puddings were produced for the home market and for export. The factory closed in 1971. Some of the sandstone buildings still survives and are now divided into a number of different businesses. Many alterations have taken place over the years. However, vestiges of its original ownership and purpose survive; the track of the railway siding running through the yard, the weathered “Co-operative Wholesale Society Limited” sign high on the north-west elevation and the “Wheatsheaf” carved in the pediment above the main entrance door. The factory was originally equipped to handle about 500 pigs a week, but, as this quantity proved totally inadequate to supply the requirements of societies, who were quick to recognise the excellence of the Wheatsheaf brand of Tralee bacon, lard, and sausages. Some slight structural alterations were made in 1907 allowing 1,000 pegs weekly to be handled. The factory viewed from the south appeared on a cigarette card issued by the CWS about 1914-16.

From Tralee the cured bacon was sent to the C.W.S. premises at Trafford Wharf, Manchester, as well as to London, Bristol, Northampton, and Newcastle. The C.W.S. Bacon Factory at Trafford Wharf was opened in June, 1906 and did nothing more than to provide for the washing, cutting, smoking, and rolling of bacon and the boiling of hams. However, the provision was so modern, clean, and efficient that the factory was seen as a model of its kind.

Reference    Builder 1 September 1900 page 202 – contracts
Reference    Building News 24 August 1900 page xiii – contracts
Reference    Percy Redfern: The story of the C.W.S. The Jubilee history of the Cooperative Wholesale Society, limited. 1863-1913