Leicester storey of Walker's Oxford Street factory in Leicester. In the early days the potatoes were sliced by hand and cooked in an ordinary fish and chip fryer. In 1971 the Walker's crisps business was sold to Standard Brands, an American firm, who sold on the company to Frito-Lay. Walker's crisps makes 10 million bags of crisps per day at two factories in Beaumont Leys, and is the UK's largest grocery brand. The Beaumont Leys manufacturing plant is world's largest crisp factory. Meanwhile, the sausage and pie business was bought out by Samworth Brothers in 1986. Production outgrew the Cobden Street
St Michael (brand) St Michael (brand) St Michael was a brand that was owned and used by Marks & Spencer (M&S) from 1927 until 2000. In 1875, the firm of N. Corah and Sons of Leicester had registered the St Margaret brand for their hosiery products. The name originated because their factory, which became one of the largest hosiery factories in Europe, was in the parish of St Margaret's in Leicester. In 1926 Corahs entered into an agreement to supply Marks and Spencer directly rather than through a wholesaler. This had the potential to bring them into conflict with the Wholesale Textile Association.