Some additional images of the Fribourg & Treyer shop, from a book that another user had linked some time ago:
Welcome to Snuffhouse!
Fribourg & Treyer had shops in London, Cambridge and Oxford of which the best known was at the Haymarket address shown in your picture. The famous name, alas, was just one of many old establishments that closed in the 1980’s: Wix of Piccadilly, Bacon Brothers in Cambridge, Kapp & Peterson’s in Burlington Arcade and the House of Bewlay chain to name just some of the high-end names. Smith and Sons of 74 Charing Cross Road struggled on through the 1990’s but is no more. Even more alarming was the relatively recent demise of the entire Kendal snuff industry.
Although Fribourg & Treyer’s snuffs are no longer sold loose or in their distinctive tall lettered tins Wilsons of Sharrow (est. 1737) acquired Fribourg & Treyer snuff assets from Imperial Group in 2016 and a number of F&T snuffs are still made by them today.
Wow, that’s interesting, thanks, Philip! I took the title right from a Pinterest post when I was looking for old snuff photos, I didn’t have any idea how many shops they were running! It’s a shame seeing snuff decline so far after the rise of cigarettes, and as you mentioned Smith and Sons lasting into the 90s, but probably finally closing their doors due to increased anti-tobacco legislation in Western countries around that time.
But hey, pipes started to go the way of the dodo bird with the introduction of cigarettes and then had a resurgence, snuff will have the same and will keep on keeping on!
Just not too much of a renaissance I hope! If it becomes too popular it’ll attract the attention of governments. At the moment in the UK it isn’t taxed like smoking tobacco and has slightly lighter regulation. We don’t want a heavy hand on our inoffensive pleasure.
I used to visit Smiths when I went to London. I loved the place, particularly when Vivian Rose was in charge. It is sad to lose places like that.
@cjm Ah good point, I forget that the UK loosened smokeless tobacco laws to curb cigarette smoking. An increase in users could be problematic. Especially when the politicians find out that we have candy and cola flavors, the horror!
My goodness, yes. We don’t want the fun police on our backs.
Love this. I’ve a fascination with bygone centuries. Disappearing London on YouTube is worth watching (first episode looks at snuff). Especially for me given Suggs presents it (I’m a big ska fan, though more first wave than the second Madness is part of).
Snuff is highly unlikely to experience any sort of renaissance. The following link explains the huge decrease in the numbers of users, at least in the UK, and the extensive list of manufacturers that have folded since the 1980’s despite a snuff advertising campaign. The war waged against tobacco saw the collapse of the high-street tobacconist which in the pre-internet age was the only means of procuring snuff, exacerbated in turn by the collapse of the coal mining industry whose work-force comprised a major market. But hopefully the situation has stabilised for the immediate future.
