Skip to content

Celebrating 100 years of Wall’s

Published:

: Celebrating 100 years of Wall’s ice cream, with images of Twister and Cornetto ice creams and confetti

2022 marks 100 years since the first Wall’s ice cream was made. Today, Wall’s ice creams are sold in more than 40 countries around the world.

See how we’re celebrating the centenarian, from a beach party in Brighton to breaking a Guinness World Record and taking a dive into our archives.

A trip through history

  • The Beginning: 1922

    Have a Wall’s good and big’ poster with ice creams on deckchairs and a black and white picture of women in ice cream factory

    The birth of the original Wall’s Ice Cream. It all started from a butcher’s shop where T. Wall & Sons Ltd had made sausages since 1786. Having previously produced sausages, his idea of producing ice cream to increase summer sales was first imagined in 1913 to help cool down consumers.

    However, this idea quickly came to a standstill at the start of World War one, halting production until it had concluded. It was then full steam ahead, where Thomas Wall’s Factory in Acton, London, started making ice cream in 1922.

  • 1930s

    Black and white picture of a man on a Wall’s trike

    Ice cream was initially delivered by van or horse-drawn cart to busy areas, however the company noticed an increasing number of ice cream spoilages, creating a need to find a new way to distribute their ice cream creations to consumers. Therefore, the idea of the Wall’s trike was born.

    The trike delivering to people on the streets of London was an instant success. Branded with the slogan ‘Stop Me and Buy One’ the Wall’s trikes became a well-known feature of the city. In the 1930s, ice cream lovers could place a Wall's card in their window to ‘bring the man with the tricycle’ right to their door.

  • 1950s

    black and white image of Gloucester ice cream factory

    In 1959, construction began on a new ice cream factory in Gloucester, which is still the home of Wall’s today. At the time, it was the largest and most advanced ice cream factory in the world with a vast automatic network of ice cream manufacturing machinery.

    Today, the factory in Gloucester makes over 1 billion ice creams every year, including around 1 million Viennettas, 2.8 million Twisters and 2.9 million Cornettos each week!

    Black and white images of woman at ice cream factory and two men and woman tasting a selection of different ice creams
  • 1960s

    pink and white Mr. Whippy ice cream van

    In 1960, Walls had become a half owner of Mr. Whippy and its fleet of soft-serve cream delivery vans, a new way to reach consumers. This led to them fully acquiring ownership in 1966.

  • 1970s

    The one and only Cornetto, Wall’s, with image of three Cornettos and a scene of Venice in the background

    In 1974, the market altered radically due to the emergence of supermarkets, and Wall’s turned Mr. Whippy into a franchise business.

    Cornetto successfully launched in the UK in May 1976, coinciding with the heat wave of that year. The advertising campaign that everyone remembers featuring the serenading gondolier began the following year…

    Just one Cornetto, give it to me

    The song was so popular it was released as a single in 1978.
  • 1980s

    Poster of Wall’s Viennetta with slice of viennetta on a plate and poster of Wall’s Twister box

    The idea of a cake consisting of layers of ice cream alternated with chocolate was developed in 1981 by Kevin Hillman, who was the Product Development Manager at Wall's Ice Cream.

    The Viennetta was shown to representatives of all ice cream companies in Unilever in the world and was voted second as the product most likely to succeed. It was then launched in 1982.

    Created in Ireland, the Twister, with its unique shape, was launched in the UK in 1984. It was the most successful ice cream product launch in 10 years.

  • Celebrating 100 years

    Man holding a Guinness World Record certificate and three lines of ice Wall’s ice cream vans lined up

    To mark the centenary of the brand, Wall’s made history this year by breaking the World Record for the largest ice cream van convoy, with 98 ice cream vans convening at the Goodwood circuit in the UK in June.

    Celebrations in Brighton started with a miniature version of the record-breaking procession, which made its way down Madeira drive on Saturday 18 June. The procession ended up at Hove Lawns where an ice-cream filled birthday party was held. To keep party spirits high, Wall’s hosted entertainment throughout the course of the day, with spectacles including flash mobs, and games such as human table football, twister, ring toss and a pineapple shy.

    Here’s to the next 100 years of bringing happy moments through ice cream!

Happy 100th Birthday Wall’s!

Back to top