Shropshire Star

Small beginnings in Oswestry for national frozen food chain

When two disillusioned deputy shop managers gave up their jobs to open a small, frozen food store in Oswestry 48 years ago this week they could never have dreamt their idea would turn into one of the biggest food names in the UK.

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Iceland's first store in Oswestry

The first Iceland store, in Leg Street, Oswestry, sold loose frozen food so shoppers could buy as little or as much as they needed, such as peas for two shillings (10p) a pound or cod portions for one shilling (5p).

Almost half a century later one of those founders, Sir Malcolm Walker, still heads the company, which has won major awards and become known for its pioneering changes.

One recent high-profile move was a promise to eliminate palm oil from its own brands by the end of this year.

To mark the 48th anniversary the company has tweeted nostalgic photographs of the first shop in Oswestry.

The inside of the Iceland store in Oswestry

They show the big chest freezers where the food would be stored, not in individual plastic bags but loose in large containers, and the scales where the shoppers' selection would be weighed.

Its pledge at the time to avoid wasteful and expensive packaging has gone full circle.

Earlier this year the food giant was the first major retailer in the world to commit to eliminating plastic packaging from its own label products – to be completed by 2023.

It has been a rollercoaster ride for Sir Malcolm.

Within five years of the Oswestry Iceland opening the business had grown to 15 stores and 37 in 10 years, taking advantage of the rise of freezers in the home and a move towards convenience food.

Sir Malcolm was 'forced to leave the company' in 2001 but returned in 2005 with other managers who had been ejected.

He wrote about his life and his company's small beginnings in Oswestry in his autobiography, Best Served Cold, in 2013, with all profits from the book going to Alzheimer’s Research UK.

Malcolm Walker

This year he received an award for Outstanding Contribution to Retail at the Retail Week Awards, where Iceland was also named Community Retailer of the year for its Beating Dementia Campaign.

The company's latest campaign against palm oil has led to a controversial ban of of its Christmas television advert featuring an orangutan because of its links with environmental body, Greenpeace. The advert has instead gone viral across the internet.

As part of his research Sir Malcolm travelled to Borneo to see the deforestation for himself.

He said: "I saw at first hand the environmental devastation which is being wreaked there by illegal deforestation, industrial-scale draining of peat swamps, and man-made forest fires."