1857-James Peek (1800-1879) already a wealthy tea importer opened a biscuit factory in a former sugar refinery at Mill Street, Dockhead, London
1860-James was joined by a relative, George Hender Frean (1824 – 1903), but Peek’s young sons were reluctant to work under Frean and soon returned to the family home in Devon, by then the factory employed 8 workers
1861-Peek Freans began exporting biscuits to Australia
1865-Introduced the popular Pearl, a small lighter, sweeter biscuit
1866-James Carr purchased 10 acres of market gardens adjoining the railway viaduct in Drummond Road, Bermondsey, to build the biscuit factory, James’s Peek’s son-in-law Thomas Stone joined as James Peek retired
1867-James Carr joined Peek and Frean as an apprentice to open the biscuit factory in Drummond Road, Bermondsey
1870-The Bermondsey factory was large and was the first to provide doctors and dentist care for the workers and had a fire brigade, demand for biscuits rose as they supplied biscuits to the French Army in the Franco-Prussian War, 220,000,000 6×2 inch biscuits were supplied to the besieged French in Paris
1872-Exporting biscuits to Canada, banked by Rothschilds and driven by demand for biscuits from French migrants into Canada
1873-Fire destroyed the Mill Street factory
1879-James Peek died in Torquay
1880-Peek Freans was the first factory in London to be supplied by electricity
1887-After much quarrelling with Peek’s son-in-law Thomas Stone, George Frean retired
1899-Introduced the Chocolate Table biscuit
1900-Royal warrant to supply biscuits to the Prince of Wales
1902-The shortbread Pat a Cake biscuit was launched
1904-Francis Hedley Peek, James Peek’s great nephew and first chairman died, which ended the involvement with the company from the Peek and Frean families, although members of John Carr’s family were to continue their involvement for a few more generations, Arthur Carr became chairman and managing director
1907-Pearl biscuit discontinued, by then the factory employed 1,300 men, 1,000 girls, and 250 office staff
1910-Introduced the Bourbon, a cocoa-flavoured cream sandwich biscuit
1911-Bermondsey Uprising, woman workers strike for higher pay and the abolition of short shifts
1912-Produced a record 100,000,000 shortbread biscuits in 3 months
1913-Sales doubled since 1900, then introduced the custard cream and opened a subsidiary chocolate factory, Meltis in Bedford
1942-Packaged 3,158,566 POW parcels
1964-The Bermondsey factory employed 1,750 workers
1984-The largest Christmas Pudding maker in England
1987-Nabisco acquired Peek Frean
1989-Peek Frean’s UK were acquired by Danone, but with biscuit sales in decline and manufacturing running at 50%, the factory closed with a loss of 1,000 jobs
Currently-The biscuit factory site and buildings are now the Tower Bridge Business Complex, the site has planning permisson to build 800 new apartments,