Mother's Pride

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mother's Pride is a brand name for a variety of breads produced by British Bakeries, a division of Premier Foods. The company also bakes Nimble (reduced calorie) and Hovis branded loaves as well as supermarket 'own brand' ranges.

British Bakeries was set up by Rank, Hovis, McDougall in 1955 to counter the then dominance of Allied Bakeries (Sunblest) and ensure an outlet for their flour products. Mother's Pride, which had been sold in the North since 1936, was marketed as a national brand by the new division in 1956. For a time in the 70s and 80s, it was the best selling white bread in the UK.

The 1960s advertising jingle was: 'Mother's Pride's a family, A family of bread'. One well-known advertisement featured singer Dusty Springfield singing a jingle called "Knocker-Upper" (which, in the UK, refers to someone who wakes up other people). This is featured on the "Dusty: Full Circle" documentary from 1994.

[edit] Related item

For the same reasons, rival millers Spillers founded United Bakeries and marketed their bread under the Homepride brand. It ceased trading in the eighties, though the Homepride brand was retained for other products.

The television advertising slogan was: 'Graded Grains Make Finer Flour'.

The words were spoken by an animated bowler hatted character called Fred the Flour Grader, voiced by John Le Mesurier.