Pride in our History...
Confidence in our Future

1882-1921   The business was founded in 1882 by Arthur and Elizabeth Roberts (Elizabeth is pictured on the left). It was originally a sweet shop based in Alfred Street West Bromwich, with a small kitchen at the back, where the sweets were made for sale in the shop. Roberts sweets soon gained a reputation for quality, so Arthur started distributing them to other shops locally on his horse and cart. As transportation links improved, so the local market for Roberts sweets grew, and by the turn of the Century, bigger premises were required, so the business moved to a bigger shop in Edward Street. Around the turn of the century, the business was also incorporated under the name A Roberts (West Bromwich) Ltd.     Arthur and Elizabeth had four sons, with the eldest, Thomas (pictured left), taking the helm at the sweet factory. On the right (above), you will see an example of our product packaging at that time - a decorative tin for "Roberts Mellowcreme Toffee". To keep the other 3 sons occupied, A Roberts (West Bromwich) Ltd. diversified into the Motor Trade, having a body repair shop, motor parts and coach hiring business at various locations in the town. By 1920, the motor businesses had got into financial difficulty, and seeing this, Tom Roberts decided to move his successful sweet business outside of the limited company in 1921, by setting up Beech Confectionery in Spon Lane. This proved to be a wise move, as by 1924 A Roberts (West Bromwich) Ltd. had gone into liquidation. 1921-1934 The name Beech came from Tom's love of Beech trees - he had several in his garden, and there was also a fine copper beech tree outside the original premises in Spon Lane. At the time Beech Confectionery was established, Tom Roberts had developed a particular specialism in developing recipes for cough lozenges and herbal sweets. His first big success in this field was with CHEKS, a very strong lozenge with a menthol, eucalyptus, liquorice and aniseed base (see CHEKS advert from 1928 on right). In 1922, Tom heard of bigger premises becoming available in Thynne Street, these being an old brewery warehouse owned by Mitchells and Butlers brewers. The building's previous tenants were George Masons Provisions Merchants, who were a major grocery wholesaler and retailer in the Midlands at the time.     Seeing great potential for expansion, he moved the business to these premises in 1922 (see photo on left taken in 1928), and the business has stayed put ever since (see photo on right taken in 1998). With the extra space, Tom started wholesaling other confectionery manufacturers' products to great effect, quickly becoming established as one of the regions most important confectionery wholesalers. 1934-TODAY The change of name to SELA (pronounced "SEELA") came about by 1934 (see business name registration certificate below), with several origins for the name and its spelling. Firstly, the company was one of the first in Britain to successfully "seal" sweets by wrapping them in a new packaging material developed at the time called cellophane. Secondly, Tom had developed a new cough sweet formula, one which would provide an effective, but very pleasant tasting, soft-centred lozenge. The name he came up with for this sweet was "Sela-Cough®", as the products "seals" the cough. The reason for the seemingly odd spelling of SELA is the brewery connections of the Thynne Street building - SELA being ALES spelt backwards! Sela-Cough® was one of the first cough lozenges to provide effective relief with a taste that allowed it to be sold as a confectionery item, rather than just a medicine, and as such it enjoyed overnight success, and remains our number one seller today. On the left you will see the first ever Sela-Cough® label, with the new Sela-Cough® packaging being over to the right. Right you will see one of our first ever product advertisements, on which the new packaging is based. To learn more about Sela-Cough®, please go to our dedicated Sela-Cough® page.   The War years were difficult for the firm, with sugar being in short supply, but the company emerged relatively unscathed, and enjoyed rapid expansion throughout the 50s, 60s and early 70s in both wholesaling and manufacturing under the control of the third generation of the Roberts family, Ken. However, during this apparently successful period, the business faced a stark choice which it never properly resolved - i.e. to be a manufacturer or wholesaler. The company chose to try and be both, which was successful for several decades, but with the benefit of hindsight, ultimately proved a mistake. The opportunity to develop Sela-Cough® into a major brand got lost amongst the quest for wholesaling turnover, plus we competed with many potential customers for our manufactured products. Equally, being a manufacturer limited the growth opportunities for wholesaling. The late 70s and 80s were particularly challenging for the company, due to increased competition from the cash and carry sector in wholesaling, and the difficulties faced by the independent retail trade due to the rise of multiple retailing. This culminated with the company going into liquidation in February 1992.     However, in May 1992, the firm was taken over by the fifth generation of the family, James. Since then, the firm has concentrated solely on traditional manufacturing, and has enjoyed great success, with sales and production of manufactured products having almost tripled in 9 years. Sales continue to grow, with the reputation of the SELA brand growing in stature in the UK. In 1999, James was approached by two successful business people from the pharmaceutical industry. Owning some property in Wolverhampton, they were collecting rent from a newsagent tenant, when one of them suffered a persistent cough. The newsagent immediately offered him a Sela-Cough® as "the locals swear by them", and it instantly stopped the cough! They were really impressed with the relieving properties and great taste of Sela-Cough® but were amazed that they were not widely known outside of the Midlands. They therefore immediately tracked down the manufacturer with a view to getting involved in developing this amazing product into the major national and international brand it deserves to be. This culminated in with them acquiring a majority shareholding in the company. Since then, along with James and Sela's dedicated staff, they have been working hard to put in place the required platform from which they can launch Sela-Cough® onto the national and international stage.

  © 2006 Sela Confectionery LTD. Manufacturers of Traditional Sweets.
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