Description and History of Site:-
Yorkshire Relish was the highest selling bottled sauce in the Victorian era, advertised as ''the most delicious sauce in the world''.
The sauce was popular enough for other companies to copy both the sauce and name. To counteract this, by 1870 every bottle of genuine Yorkshire Relish had a willow tree logo embossed on the bottle to guarantee authenticity. The sauce was trademarked in 1876, number 3,101 and one of the earliest to be registered.
In August 1872 670,000 bottles of the sauce were sold. Goodall, Blackhouse and Co operated the largest sauce factory in the world by 1874. The six floor building was largely mechanised and steam powered.
8,000,000 bottles were sold in 1885 alone, even receiving a recommendation from Charles Perrins of Lea And Perrins. The factory occupied 10 acres of floor space by 1907 and the wage bill ran to £80,000. 13,000,000 bottles of the sauce now sold each year remaining the best selling sauce up to 1911.
The base of Yorkshire Relish consisted of shallots, soy sauce, garlic and malt vinegar, flavoured with 27 eastern spices including black pepper. The sauce then matured for a minimum of 14 months in oak vats, sometimes up to 3 years.
A thicker version was introduced in 1935, made from apples, tomatoes, dates, tamarinds and spices. Robert Goodall (1831-1870) was born in Market Weighton, Yorkshire. He served an apprenticeship to a chemist, then established his own chemist shop on Wade Lane, Leeds in 1853.
Like many chemists of that era he branched out into consumer goods, with Goodall making Yorkshire Relish from a family recipe. It was thin like Worcester Sauce but fruitier and not containing anchovies.
Goodall entered a partnership with two chemists, Henry Backhouse (1829-1876) and his Brother-in-Law and former apprentice William Powell (1836-1900) to aquire the business of Bell and Brooke, Leeds, wholesale chemists. The firm was now known as Goodall, Backhouse and Co and moved to Bell and Brooke's larger premises at 46 Boar Lane.
Goodall held half of the company equity with Backhouse and Powell quarter each.
Robert Goodall died in 1870 with his stake in the business inherited by William Powell. The firm relocated to White Horse Street in 1873 discontinuing the retail activities. The firm then developed as pharmaceutical wholesalers and sauce manufacturers.(See WYK01407)
Henry Backhouse died in 1876 leaving William Powell as sole proprietor. Under his astute business leadership the company continued to flourish, now employing 500 employees by 1900.
Powell on his death in 1900 left the firm to two nephews, William Powell Bowman (1862-1955) and Frank Boyce. Bowman had worked for the company since 1877. Bowman bought Boyce's shares of the business in 1916 for £36,000.
Bowman's eldest son George Edward Bowman (1901-1979) was brought into the business in 1921.

Following import tariffs being introduced, the Hogg family established Goodall's of Ireland producing the sauce for that market under licence.

Goodall, Backhouse and Co became Incorporated in 1934 with a capital of £125,000. The company was awarded a Royal Warrant from George V.
The companies drug business on White Horse Street was split off as a seperate trading division called Goodall's (Leeds) Ltd with George Edward Bowman remaining Director of the drug business.(See WYK01407)

The food business, making mostly Yorkshire Relish but also ginger beer powder, custard powder and egg powder, employed over 300 at the works in Sovereign Street.
George Edward Bowmann had taken over as Managing Director of Goodall, Bowman and Co by 1947 with William Powell as Governing Chairman until his death in 1955.
As William Powell had been sole proprietor of Goodall, Backhouse and Co, his Death Duties were very high leading to the business being sold to Hammonds Sauce Co of Shipley, Yorkshire in 1959.
Hammonds was aquired by Pillsbury in 1982 who closed the Leeds factory on Sovereign Street in 1985, relocating all sauce production to a new factory in Bradford.

Further Reading and References:-
http://letslookagain.com/2015/02/goodall-backhouse-co-yorkshire-relish/

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Key Words :- sauce relish

Viewing the Site :- Riverside public footpath.

Address :- Sovereign Street, Leeds, West Yorkshire
Grid Ref :- SE 30028 33044
Co-ordinates :- Lat 53.792848 , Long -1.545657
Local Authority :- Leeds Council
Pre 1974 County :- Yorkshire - West Riding
Site Status :- Site demolished or no longer extant
Site Condition :- Site redeveloped to residential housing
Site Dates :- - 1985
Record Date :- 15 August 2019

Copyright :- cc-by-nc-sa 4.0 © Andrew Garford