Chiswick Soft Soap and Polish Company - (former) ICI Yalding site

A major producer of soaps, the CHISWICK POLISH CO LTD, perceived an opportunity for development, and in 1912 purchased a triangular site at Yalding (No 7 site) which was well served by road, rail and river, on which they built a factory for the manufacture of soft soap.

In 1914, the Chiswick Polish Co Ltd sold out to a consortium consisting mainly of local fruit and hop growers, and became known as the YALDING MANUFACTURING CO LTD. This was established to continue manufacture of their well known Imperial Brand Soft Soap, and to extend their range to include fruit and hop washes, fungicides and insecticides.

In 1958 ICI bought out the crop protection interests of Cooper, McDougall and Robertson Ltd which was acquired a year later by the Wellcome Foundation, and Plant Protection Ltd became a wholly-owned ICI subsidiary.
In the ensuing years, Plant Protection Ltd, due to many outstanding discoveries, became a major force in the international crop protection field and in 1975 attained Divisional Status as ICI PLANT PROTECTION DIVISION.

In 1964 ICI decided to merge its crop production and crop protection interests and Plant Protection Ltd
became part of ICI Agricultural Division.
Finally, in 1987, following acquisition of the Stauffer Chemical Company, and in keeping with the ICI corporate image campaign, the name Plant Protection disappeared and the company then operated globally as ICI AGROCHEMICALS.

In June 1993 the ICI name was replaced by Zeneca when the company separated from its parent to become a leading bioscience company.

In November 2000, the agribusinesses of AstraZeneca and Novartis were changed to become part of the Swiss company Syngenta. Less than a year later in August 2001, the closure of the company was announced, which finally happened in December 2003.