Cadbury World celebrates 20 years
Sep 4 2010 by Catherine Lillington, Birmingham Mail
BIRMINGHAM’S Cadbury World has celebrated 20 years of giving tourists a glimpse behind the scenes of the famous chocolate factory.
More than eight million sweet-toothed visitors have flocked to the Bournville attraction, with a record number of 575,000 last year.
Families queuing to get in at the close of the school holidays included one who had travelled from Singapore.
Original general manager Ian Saxby, who was also given the job of creating the £6 million site, returned to join the anniversary celebrations. Mr Saxby and his team spent four years in its planning and took inspiration from trips to Disney World and Hershey’s Chocolate World in the US.
A forecast predicted 250,000 visitors in the first year, instead there were 416,000. What was the company’s first venture into the leisure industry grew out of sackfuls of letters from fascinated schoolchildren and guided tours.
Now 75, Mr Saxby, whose own parents George and Lily worked at Bournville in the 1920s, said it was exciting to witness its success. “There was an enormous correspondence to Cadbury mostly from school people – teachers and pupils – who had projects to do,” he said.
“There was always a terrific interest in the brand and there still is.
