Politi Turkish Delight Works

D. Politi & Sons Ltd. Creme De Menthe Tin


Mavi Boncuk | 


Politi [1] Turkish Delight Works | Source


At one time Politi's Turkish Delight Factory 10 Manor Road, Stoke Newington N16, had stationary steam engines, probably to stir Turkish-delight mix. Steam would also have been used for process purposes and there were boilers as a square-cross-section brick chimney was built at the back of the works, to the north east. The chimney remains with the white lettering Politi running vertically downwards clearly visible. The grid reference is TQ 335 870. Looking across the railway a fairly good view of the chimney can be had from the Safeway supermarket to the east in Stamford Hill (the A10).


The yellow brick building which fronts Manor Road is two story, of two bays with double pitch roofs. The gables are decorated with the Star of David and on the eastern gable is the date 1911. In the centre of the façade at first floor level there is a loading loophole with a cathead. This loophole may be a fairly recent addition. The brick chimney is immediately behind this building and has iron bands and a lightening conductor.

According to the article by David Perrett in London's Industrial Archaeology number one (p8), Politi's had a 1901 horizontal single-cylinder steam engine by Marshall Sons & Co Ltd of Gainsborough still at work c1978. There was also on standby an inverted vertical single-cylinder enclosed engine made about 1950 by W Sisson and Co Ltd of Gloucester. It is understood that a GLIAS member visited Politi's about 25 years ago. They probably ceased to use steam engines in the early 1980s.


D Politi and Sons Ltd were well-known for the manufacture of Rahat Lacoum, British Manufacture Turkish Delight which was marketed in wooden drums with paper seals. The red labelled boxes were a popular luxury at Christmas about 45 years ago. On opening the drum one came to a white paper lining and on disturbing this clouds of fine white powder would be created which could make quite a mess. The powder, used to pack the Turkish Delight, was a mixture of cornflour and icing sugar. The Turkish Delight itself was of several flavours indicated by colour and the powder packing was to stop it fusing together into one great lump.


This is the traditional way of retailing Turkish Delight and in more recent years it has been possible to buy it like this loose, weighed out into paper bags in the shop. This Turkish Delight was probably made by people in London who were of Cypriot origin and was generally sold in Cypriot shops. More recently still it has been possible to buy Turkish Delight in Hackney and thereabouts which is made and packed in Turkey. This is generally sold in printed cardboard boxes. Very recently supermarkets have started to stock a range of Turkish Delights made in Turkey but packed in the UK. These are displayed on the shelves in transparent plastic boxes. Turkish Delight is a common accompaniment to a small cup of Turkish coffee — finely ground coffee in suspension, which settles as a sludge at the bottom of the cup.


An example of a Politi wooden Rahat Lacoum drum measures just over five and a quarter inches in diameter across the lid and is overall about two and a quarter inches deep. It is marked one and a quarter pounds nett and cost nine shillings including purchase tax. The address London N16 is given on the lid of the drum. It is probably the order of 25 years old. This method of presenting luxury Turkish Delight by Politi's was in marked contrast to the cheaper mass-produced Turkish Delight made by the big sweet manufacturers which in some cases could be chocolate coated and just bought like a chocolate bar.


Politi's Turkish Delight was eaten with orange sticks or a wooden fork. From memory there used to be one on top of the Turkish Delight when the drum was opened. Even removing the fork spread about a good deal of white powder, the mixture of cornflour and icing sugar used for packing. The fork was rather like the disposable ones still in use by some traditional fish and chip shops.


David Politi was a Greek Jew who moved to England and started the manufacture of British Turkish Delight in 1872. Politi's seem to have gone out of business before 1987. According to a steam engine website both their steam engines were removed for preservation. Does anyone know where?



Politi's occupied quite small premises. Looking at the site now it is hard to believe that all that Turkish Delight was made there. Bob Carr


Follow-up: Bob Carr's Politi drum is perhaps a bit older than the 25 years he suggests. Decimalisation of the currency was imposed in February 1971, and purchase tax was replaced by VAT (then 10%) on All Fools' Day 1973. Richard Graham


[1] The family, Sephardic Jews, is believed to have migrated from Spain and Portugal, almost certainly during or before the Spanish expulsion of the Jewish community in 1492. They travelled to Venice and then to Corfu. There is record of the murder of two members of the Politi family by the Inquisition in Italy in 1519. They must have been Jewish and others may have been forced to convert to Catholicism. The earliest known ancestor of Jacob Politi is Vita Abraham David Politi born in Corfu about 1757. Jacob Politi’s father David Politi, a British subject, was born in Corfu on 22nd June 1845. He came to England in 1862. The British Politi family is descended from him. The Politi family which remained in Corfu were transported to Auschwitz by the Germans on 20th June 1944. David Politi founded the Turkish Delight confectionary company D. Politi & Sons Ltd in 1870. Source