Farewell Kimberley, Mikado and Coconut Cream as Jacob's closes

banquo

Is this really the end? Will I still be able to buy the same Kimberly biscuits under a different brand name? It appears not.

Irish Times wrote:

They made biscuits that graced tea-tables for generations: Kimberley, Mikado and Coconut Cream and, of course, the mysterious Fig Roll.

But sweet nostalgia was the flavour of the hour as former employees of Jacob’s factory in Tallaght, Dublin, walked through the gates for the last time yesterday.

Many “Jacob’s girls” gathered to reminisce about friendships and romances forged at the factory, where manufacturing ceased this week.

Close friends Mary O’Reilly, from Balrothery, and Madeline Cullen, from Springfield, started at the plant on the same day in May 1983. They found the job difficult at first.

“It was very hard, physical work. Some machinery looked like it was taken from the Ark. But because we made such great friendships, we encouraged each other,” Ms Cullen said.

They disliked wearing the cerise pink overalls that marked them out as trainees, and laughed as they recalled a workmate whose uniform shrank after she tried to dry it quickly in her new microwave oven.

May Whelan, from Crumlin, who started in the early 1970s, observed plenty of social change in Jacob’s.

“It was mostly women doing the packing and men were always in the high-up jobs. It was a man’s world in Jacob’s for a long time, very regimental, but that changed. The men do the same jobs as the women now.”

May revealed she was briefly suspended for going to a pub to watch television coverage of Princess Anne’s wedding. A laughing male colleague chipped in: “That was Queen Victoria!”

Founded in Waterford in 1851 by two Quaker brothers, William and Robert Jacob, Jacob’s was soon established on Dublin’s Bishop Street. It transferred to Tallaght in the 1970s. The Jacob Fruitfield Food Group last year announced it would gradually move biscuit production out of the country, with the loss of 220 jobs. The group will continue to employ close to 100 people in Tallaght, Drogheda and west Cork.

Fig Rolls and other biscuits will be produced in the UK.

“That’s the Jacob’s brand gone now as we knew it,” says Maria Breen, from Old Bawn in Tallaght, a third-generation Jacob’s employee.

A Jacob’s girl remains loyal to the end, however. One of the great unanswered questions of our times – how do Jacob’s get the figs into the Fig Rolls? – is answered with a secretive smile.

“We’ll take that with us to our grave.”

Dang,

civis_liberalis

banquo wrote: »

Is this really the end? Will I still be able to buy the same Kimberly biscuits under a different brand name? It appears not.

They moved production overseas. I won't be buying Jacobs any more. Need to support Irish producers to help get us out of this hole we are in.

Senna

banquo wrote: »

Is this really the end? Will I still be able to buy the same Kimberly biscuits under a different brand name? It appears not.

Does it not??

The Jacob Fruitfield Food Group last year announced it would gradually move biscuit production out of the country, with the loss of 220 jobs. The group will continue to employ close to 100 people in Tallaght, Drogheda and west Cork.

seanybiker

cool never knew they started in waterford. Woo go us.


Pity they closed.
Fig rolls to be produced in UK. Now their gonna know how the got the fig in the rolls.

chin_grin

I KIMBERLEY'VE IT!

SORRY

banquo

chin_grin wrote: »

I KIMBERLEY'VE IT!

SORRY

You die now.

tommyboy2222

Hobnobs Mother****ers!!!!!

chin_grin

banquo wrote: »

You die now.

What mika-do?

Again......sorry!

seanybiker

chin_grin wrote: »

What mika-do?

Again......sorry!

Ha ha your on a fig roll.

Mr.Lizard

chin_grin wrote: »

What mika-do?

Blokes, by the look of him?

phasers

They're awful anyway, I only eat cream crackers.

/serious, back to your puns now

jester77

hmm, but will these foreigners know how to get the fig in the fig rolls :eek:

The_Minister

What are the pink, fluffy ones called?

They were sickening.

Hagar

The men do the same jobs as the women now.

The ironing is delicious.

Graham_B18C

The_Minister wrote: »

What are the pink, fluffy ones called?

They were sickening.

Mikado me thinks

Hagar

The_Minister wrote: »

What are the pink, fluffy ones called?

They were sickening.

Coconut Creams.

RandolphEsq

Mikados were sickeningly good! Like licking out a vagina to get at that jam *blebblebblebblebblebblebbleb*

Borneo Fnctn

Cream crackers gone? Bollox.


As for the "how do the figs end up in the fig rolls?", who gives a ****? Nobody cares. I also don't have a bull's notion how a telly works but I'm not going on about it.

Spunge

They just fold it over i guess.

Mr.Lizard

All three of them were mank. I remember we always used to have them when we were kids and then it just seemed to stop and was never seen again. Tho that said I think they're definetly an iconic symbol of "old" Ireland (ie pre-90s) and as such are worthy of a footnote.

http://www.jacobfruitfield.com/img/mallows_home.jpg

partyatmygaff

civis_liberalis wrote: »

They moved production overseas. I won't be buying Jacobs any more. Need to support Irish producers to help get us out of this hole we are in.

Rly, What a righteous thing to do. Fair play to ya!

As for me, I'll just buy them and enjoy the probably lower prices

Acacia

This is sad news. Was this the same Jacob's factory that was used in the Easter Rising? Or am I just imagining things again?

Mr Benevolent

BrightEyes wrote: »

Mikados were sickeningly good! Like licking out a vagina to get at that jam *blebblebblebblebblebblebbleb*

What kind of women put jam in their vagina, and where do you find them?

The_Minister

Hagar wrote: »

Coconut Creams.

No, the ones with two lines of pink fluff, on biscuit, with a filling between them.

Saibh

The_Minister wrote: »

No, the ones with two lines of pink fluff, on biscuit, with a filling between them.

Mikado

Graham_B18C

Acacia wrote: »

This is sad news. Was this the same Jacob's factory that was used in the Easter Rising? Or am I just imagining things again?

Nah, IIRC thats been gone quite a while, was offices at first, now its DIT Aungier St. If you walk by the side of it (left of the main green door) it still has it in the stone along the bottom "Jacob's Dublin" or something like that

mike65

Seriously though fig rolls aside were these not the crappiest biscuits ever? The kind of goo 6 year olds love.

prinz

And here was me thinking Mikado and Coconut Cream were going to be nicknames for members of Girls Aloud...

towel401

http://pineapple.vg/ul/mikado2_800.jpg

Ann22

I loved Mikado but my mother kept buying me packets of them, now I'm sick of them. Never liked Fig Rolls-yuck! They're meant to be the healthiest biscuit closely followed by Ginger Nuts (considering they're hydrogenated oil free).

OldGoat

Chocolate covered kimberly.

Aidric

Fig rolls were mank biscuits, no loss to the shelves. I have a soft spot for the chocolate kimberlys.

ayapatrick

OldGoat wrote: »

Chocolate covered kimberly.

their lovely, but the ordinary kimberelys arent great !
fig rolls arent the best either!
coconut creams are delicious - many a packet i ate.

but shur there still going to be making them arent they?

Acacia

OldGoat wrote: »

Chocolate covered kimberly.

Fcuk's sake, I better still be able to buy those :mad:

Big Ears

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Rly, What a righteous thing to do. Fair play to ya!

As for me, I'll just buy them and enjoy the probably lower prices

Or you'll buy them for the same price, and Jacob's will enjoy the probably lower costs. This is Ireland, savings are not to be passed onto the consumer.

luckat

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Rly, What a righteous thing to do. Fair play to ya!

As for me, I'll just buy them and enjoy the probably lower prices

No you won't. Gone now.