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It’s been 125 years since it opened its doors, but the world’s oldest Christmas pudding maker is showing no sign of slowing down
At Matthew Walker Puddings, workers gauge their speed not in mph, but in pph. And in October and November more than 220 dedicated staff produce an astonishing 20,000pph (puddings per hour).
Purveyors of Christmas puds for everyone from Harrods and Waitrose to Tesco and ASDA – with some taking 30 months to mature and each customer tweaking their own closely guarded recipe – Matthew Walker make 97% of the seasonal dessert for almost every major retailer.
A staggering 17 million scrumptious Christmas-related offerings each year travel from the factory in Heanor, Derbyshire, onto families’ festive tables. And, during a 12 month period, the equivalent of 10 Olympic swimming pools of alcohol (881,493 litres), 1,784 tonnes of vine fruit and 151,219 pounds of nuts are used as ingredients.
Chris Hynes, Factory General Manager, tells The Mirror : “When people ask us what we do, I think they feel we are like Santa Claus and his elves, and that we are busy for one day, or one month of the year. But because of the maturity of different puddings we have, we’re busy right now, but not for this year, we are busy for next year and Christmas 2026.
“When you are looking at maturity on different Christmas puddings, let’s say you have a 24-month maturity, you can’t fake that. You have to produce it two years in advance, and our longest maturity is 30 months at the moment.”
Today, the factory is owned by Valeo Foods UK, but its founder, Matthew Walker, was working in a grocery shop when he was first inspired by Queen Victoria visiting the region in 1891 to start thinking bigger – opening his first factory in 1899.
Mr Hynes says, proudly: “We produce over 17 million Christmas related puddings, but we also do sponge puddings, so 25 million puddings a year in total go out of this factory. A lot of people here have upwards of 40 years’ service. There is a family culture here. This present site in Heanor has been around since 1967.”
The factory is so embedded within the community that there is even an annual 10km pudding run, featuring over 1,200 runners of every ability. Mr Hynes continues: “Every single one of the puddings we make has its own unique taste. Each of our customers has a huge input into what they want for their puddings.
“The basic principle of a Christmas pudding is allowing that moisture to create that beautiful balance of flavour between the alcohol and pudding mix. Each of our customers wants their own version of that, so it’s definitely a partnership between our team and their preference.
“Through the years, consumers have changed what they want. In the past it was a darker bitter taste that was preferred, but now shoppers want something lighter with an element of fruit to make you feel good about yourself.”
Nowhere was the appreciation of the team effort behind the factory’s success more evident than at a ceremony to commemorate the outfit’s 125 year anniversary. Unveiling a plaque in the canteen, CEO of Valeo Foods UK, Kevin Moore, said: “This moment belongs to the workers who, along with generations of colleagues before them, show up every day, committed to ensuring that every product reflects 125 years of hard work and dedication.”
