The London Honey Company produces sustainable, and delicious, honey and uses ‘the full hive’ to create a host of other products
“When the bee trucks return to Bermondsey, stacked high with glorious, full honey boxes, there is no better feeling. The sight and the scent are something to behold.”
Aileen Geraghty, creative and marketing director at The London Honey Company, tells us about the company’s urban beekeeping history, being a family biz, and why Spa Terminus on a Saturday is the place to be(e).
The Biscuit: The London Honey Company started via urban beekeeping – can you tell us more of your story from then to now?
Aileen Geraghty: If you look closely, tucked alongside the lovely bee in our logo is a date, 1999. The date Steve (my husband) took the plunge to leave behind a career as a photojournalist and install honeybees on his roof near Tower Bridge.
With urban beekeeping almost unheard of at the time, this simple act captured the zeitgeist: an appetite for pure natural food to be brought back into the heart of the city, for food to come straight from where it is made without interference and to let a quality ingredient speak for itself. The London Honey Company was born.
It seems incredible to us, as the family business we now are, to be celebrating our 25th year. Steve’s nephew George has been passionate about beekeeping since he was a child, and now manages our main production operation at Honey HQ.
What is slow beekeeping and why is it a way of working you subscribe to?
We travel across the British countryside in search of some of the most obscure nectar sources our country has to offer. We’re continually exploring new locations.
We are migratory bee farmers, which means we move colonies in line with the seasons, carefully considering time frames of budding flora to ensure there is always an abundance of nectar and pollen for our bee colonies to thrive. Sourcing sustainable environments to situate our hives alongside the careful management and welfare of our bees is of equal importance to us.
What products do you create with your honey?
We are proud to have developed a fully sustainable approach, whereby we use every element of the beehive – from the honey and honeycomb to natural beeswax. The full hive, zero waste.
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Alongside our ever-evolving British Honey Collection, we developed an Infused Honey range that’s proven to be extremely popular. Smoked Chipotle Honey is our most recent to launch, it’s delicious. We’ve also developed a super-healthy range of products that includes British Honeybee Pollen and CBD Infused Honey, all entirely natural ingredients.
British Honeycomb is incredibly special, and something we are known for. Although not widely available, this is pure honey in its most natural form. We are possibly one of the largest producers of honeycomb in the UK and it takes skilful beekeeping to produce it. We sell this in full frames to many top restaurants and notable chefs who often create beautiful creative dishes using it.
We extract, filter and produce the most beautiful golden British Beeswax from the hives, before then producing our British Beeswax Candle range, this is quite special as each seasonal harvest produces not only honey but its own entirely natural beeswax. We also produce a super nourishing multi-purpose Beeswax Balm that’s great for all skincare needs as it’s 100% natural.
Your warehouse and shop are based in Bermondsey, what do you like about being situated in the area?
Bermondsey has been home to our business for so long now, it’s such a huge part of our identity. The local neighbourhood has supported us from the beginning and as we’ve grown over the years, from our original Saturday market to our current new Saturday Shop at Arch 8 at Spa Terminus.
Our connections to our food-producing neighbours at Spa Terminus are also important – we are proud to be one of the founders of this independent group and how it has grown and evolved to this day.
Do you have any local recommendations for our readers?
Saturday mornings at Spa Terminus Market are a joy to wander and explore on a sunny morning! We are surrounded by an incredible array of independent food producers here who open their doors to the public every Saturday morning.
I’d recommend you start with a breakfast coffee and delicious pastry at our friend The Little Bread Pedlar, before shopping for your fresh fruit and veg, specialist ham and cheese, fresh fish and butchery, not forgetting some British Honey and Beeswax Candles, of course.
Visit The London Honey Company on Saturdays (9am-2pm) at Arch 8, Voyager Business Park, Spa Road, SE16 4RP
Sign up to their newsletter for 10% off your first online order
www.thelondonhoneycompany.co.uk
All images by The London Honey Company
