Why Henderson's Relish still means so much to Sheffielders 136 years after its creation

During that time it has become an inescapable and iconic part of the city’s history, and it is hard to conceive of another condiment that could inspire the kind of dedicated and zealous following Henderson’s has enjoyed for generations.

You would be hard-pressed to find many households, pubs or restaurants in Sheffield that don’t have a bottle or two tucked away.

Over the last 18 months, Henderson’s Relish has gone both national and international, with supermarket giants Sainsbury’s and Morrisons beginning to stock it in their stores across the country and a third major stockist is currently enquiring about doing the same. The superlative sauce is also being sold in Japan for the first time.

But the current directors of Henderson’s, siblings Simon Freeman and Julia Waxman, say Henderson's belongs to Sheffield.

"As we grow, my biggest fear is that we somehow lose that uniqueness, that it’s less of a secret, and I don’t want to lose that. You know, we make it here, we are Sheffield, and I hope that the people of Sheffield always treat it as theirs.

"I want it to be theirs. If an outsider has it, then fine, but it’s theirs, you want that to keep going,” said Simon.

The history of Henderson’s Relish

Grocer Harry Henderson blended the first batch of his famous spicy sauce with the same secret recipe used today in 1885, and since then, the company has only been owned by two other families.

The popularity of Henderson’s, or Hendo’s as it is affectionately called by many in Sheffield, soared in the city during the late 19th century.

The sale of the business to jam and pickle makers, Shaws of Huddersfield, in 1910, helped Harry Henderson to amass a sizeable fortune to retire with.

His net worth at the time of his death in 1930 was thought to be £10,000, which is the equivalent of more than £660,000 in today’s money.

Shortly after buying the business, new owner George Shaw set about creating the first Henderson’s Relish factory space at 50 Leavygreave Road, Broomhall in 1910. The expansion of the University of Sheffield led to the factory moving down the road to 66 Leavygreave Road in 1958, and the business remained there for more than half a century until 2013 when the operation was moved to a purpose-built site off the Parkway on Parkway Rise.

The move to their state-of-the-art site, combined with the addition of new machinery, means they are now able to produce 8,000 bottles of Henderson’s Relish a day, compared with the 2,500 they were able to manufacture at the Leavygreave Road site.

Why the Leavygreave Road factory site is the “home” of Henderson’s Relish

Simon and Julia describe having a “great fondness” for the 66 Leavygreave Road factory site.

“We all, as a family, consider the Leavygreave Road factory as home [of Henderson’s] because it’s the place as children we went to,” explains Simon.

Today, the building is owned by the University of Sheffield, and its memorable orange and black frontage has been kept in place while the next chapter for the site is devised.

“It’s not the world’s most exciting-looking building in terms of listing it, but what it means to people of Sheffield, what it means to us [is significant]. It is kind of the home of Henderson’s. This building, our presence, here in Parkway Rise – it might come, it might go, but that [site] is the kind of monument,” adds Simon.

Henderson’s Relish has been in Simon and Julia’s family, the Freeman family, since 1940, when George Shaw’s son-in-law Charles Hinksman bought it in 1940 after working as the firm’s general manager for 30 years prior to that.

Following the sale, staff and customers alike were reassured that the business, and crucially, the recipe of Henderson’s Relish would remain the same with a handbill which read: “Kindly note: no change will take place in the ingredients or manufacture of our well-known relish.”

Charles’ wife, Miriam Hinksman, sadly died in 1939, shortly before he bought Henderson’s Relish; and he married Sheffield journalist, Gladys Freeman, Simon and Julia’s great-aunt, in early 1940.

"The business has been in our family since then,” explains Simon.

Over the next 11 years of Charles’ tenure with Henderson’s, he mechanised production, post-World War II, and by the time he retired in 1951, annual sales of Hendo’s exceeded one million.

Their father, Kenneth Freeman, took up the reins in 1991 after retiring as a GP, and his wife, Pamela was awarded the role of secretary. In the intervening period, Henderson’s Relish was run by Gladys Freeman and her brother Harvey Freeman for some 30 years, in the wake of Charles Hinksman’s retirement and subsequent death. Then in 1985, Harvey’s widow, Connie Freeman, a retired school teacher, was passed the baton, and she installed her nephew, Kenneth as director and secretary.

Simon and Julia joke that the tradition in the Freeman family has been for those with no business experience to take over after retiring, and they have helped to buck the trend by taking up senior roles before reaching retirement age.

“You’ll see kind of a theme here that no-one actually has business experience really – who runs this company,” explains Simon, adding: "My Dad retired, Dad’s family were born in Sheffield...and so my Aunty Connie thought: “Well this is the perfect time because you’ll have plenty of time on your hands and actually be able to run Henderson’s.”

Simon and Julia’s involvement with Henderson’s Relish

While Simon and Julia have helped out with the business, using their legal and bookkeeping expertise, respectively, over the years, it was not until their father’s death at the age of 91 that they joined their mother in becoming directors of the company in 2014.

They describe how Henderson’s has been a big part of their lives for the last 35 years, and in much the same way as their father did, they regard themselves to be the “stewards” of Henderson's which is both a privilege and a responsibility.

Simon insists Henderson’s will not be sold during his “lifetime," adding: “Dad was passed this baby, and still, the most terrifying thing in the family would be to let Henderson’s wither on the vine.”

“It’s a Sheffield institution, and it’s something we just have to keep going. We’d never be forgiven [if we failed to] and also, all those generations before – all of the work they’ve done – that weight was very much on my Dad’s shoulders. And [it's on] our shoulders, you know. There’d be a lot of rolling over in graves, you feel, if Henderson’s failed as a company and/or was sold to some big, faceless corporation.”

Simon and Julia are acutely aware, and protective, of the inextricable link between Henderson’s and Sheffielders.

“It’s the source of the people of Sheffield, isn’t it,” adds Julia.

Devoted Hendo’s fans

The pair proudly reel off examples of Hendo’s fans proving their devotion to the incomparable condiment in a variety of ways. From the man living in Spain who had the outline of a memorable orange and black Henderson’s bottle tiled on the floor of his swimming pool to the woman who paid for her husband to have a similar design tattooed on his arm to mark their first wedding anniversary.

And then there are the famous Sheffielders who insist on bringing the taste of home with them wherever in the world their career takes them.

Simon recalls reading a Guardian interview with the Arctic Monkeys that was conducted as they rehearsed in a BBC studio in Kent and failed to pay any attention to the fact legendary Beatle, Paul McCartney was tuning up next door because they were too engrossed in a discussion about where they might be able to pick up a bottle of Hendo’s.

Drummer Matt Elders reportedly said: "Do you know what Henderson's Relish is...It's like Worcester sauce but a million times better.”

Simon makes regular trips to the factory but lives in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, and describes himself as the “London courier” of Henderson’s.

"I had to take a bottle to the BBC or wherever Jonathan Ross was at the time because Sean Bean was on his show and his production company called us up. I’m like the London courier for Henderson’s. I had to take Henderson’s crisps to the cabinet office when Nick Clegg had his final cabinet meeting with the Government at the time,” he said.

Preservation of Henderson’s Relish

Kenneth’s belief that the preservation of Henderson’s Relish should take priority over everything else, informed his approach to growth and expansion.

“It wasn’t about growing it, it was about holding it and protecting it,” said Julia.

Simon describes how this meant his father did not “chase” new business deals; and in fact, when he was approached by British Airways about stocking Henderson’s Relish on their aeroplanes the potential business relationship ended fairly quickly when they asked him to produce smaller bottles especially for them.

"My dad said: “Well, we do a 248ml bottle, or a 142ml bottle.” And they went: “Well, we’d need something slightly smaller.” And he said: “Well, we only do two bottles.” And that was that,” explains Simon.

However, Henderson’s Relish still enjoyed significant growth under Kenneth’s leadership.

“Dad grew the business over his tenure three or four fold. And put us on the map,” said Simon.

The secret Henderson’s Relish recipe

Today, Pamela, Simon, Julia and her son, Sebastian Waxman, who is the latest generation of the family to work for Henderson’s as a commercial manager, are the only four people in the world to have the secret recipe for Henderson’s Relish.

Kenneth and Pamela used to make regular trips to the Henderson’s factory from their home in Liverpool to mix the secret recipe, and after Kenneth’s death, Julia joined her mother Pamela in the important task.

The impact of Covid-19 led to responsibility of the secret mix being passed on to Sebastian, who lives in Sheffield.

Sebastian has all of the correct measurements for the recipe written down, but during Kenneth’s day, he relied on using the same measuring tools that had been passed down from previous custodians of the recipe.

Recalling a video he took of his father showing him how to mix the secret recipe, Simon said: “Dad’s like: “So you get this spoon here.” It was like an old-looking silver scoop. And I said: “How much is that, how many grams or millilitres is that, Dad?” And he said: “I don’t know, it’s just the spoon.”

“I said: “But we don’t know how much that is, what if we lost the spoon?” “Well, we won’t,” he replied. And that, literally, is how it was done.”

Julia “We’ve moved on, but that only happened when we moved here [to the current site].”

“There was a bit of a disaster, because we lost the spoon, for a short while,” laughed Simon.

And Sheffielders do not shy away from letting the firm know if the latest batch of Henderson’s is not quite right, something that happened more before the production process was more automated.

"Sheffielders know what Henderson’s tastes like and so consistency is important obviously. And we’ve had people call in and go: “It doesn’t taste right this week,” said Simon.

Julia added: “I think we’d changed vinegar supplier, or something like that...It’s a whole different ball game being here [at the Parkway Rise site]. It’s become more automated in the way the vinegar goes in, the amount of water that goes in. Everything is automated now, and so it is a very different system.”

The Hendo’s workforce

Aside from the family members involved in the business, Henderson’s has a total of eight employees, with five working in the factory and three in other roles including General Manager Matt Davies.

“Soon after Dad died, Matt was the first person in the business that had experience of dealing with business and sales and marketing, having worked at Taylors of Harrogate, and Mars before that. Matt knew the business and has done a really good job,” said Simon.

Simon describes how the factory currently operates between 8am and 4pm, Monday to Friday; and that their thoughts turn to their dedicated workforce when considering expansion.

"Capacity-wise, we’re happy where we are. It’s about taking those baby-steps as well...We’ve just had this big increase in what we’re doing. Let’s just pause for breath, make sure everyone’s alright.

"Last year the men did a lot of overtime – because of an increase in demand during the pandemic – it was very hard work for them. That’s another concern, we’ve got no interest in milking every last drop of energy out of them.”

Julia added: “Because we’re a small, family business, and they’re part of the family business. We’re very concerned about their wellbeing and want them to be happy.”

“People work here for a long time. We’ve just had the latest batch retire, Ted and Dougie, and those guys were here 20+ years. We have a bit of rotation, but only because of retirement,” continued Simon.