HP Sauce - wikipedia HP Sauce This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( October 2010 ) HP Sauce Type Brown sauce Place of origin United Kingdom Invented 1895 ( 1895 ) Main ingredients Tomatoes Other information www.hpsauce.co.uk Owned by H.J. Heinz Company, previously : Frederick Gibson Garton HP Foods Media : HP Sauce HP Sauce is a brown sauce originally produced by HP Foods in the United Kingdom, now produced by the H.J. Heinz Company in the Netherlands. It was named after London 's Houses of Parliament. Since its first appearance on British dinner tables, HP Sauce has become an icon of British culture. It was the best - selling brand of brown sauce in the UK in 2005, with 73.8 % of the retail market. HP Sauce has a tomato base, blended with malt vinegar and spirit vinegar, Sugars ( molasses, glucose - fructose syrup, sugar ), dates, cornflour, rye flour, salt, spices and tamarind. It is used as a condiment with hot and cold savoury food, and as an ingredient in soups and stews. It is also popular in Canada, the Republic of Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. The picture on the front of the bottle is a selection of famous London landmarks including Big Ben, the House of Commons and Westminster Bridge. Contents 1 Early history 2 Wilson 's gravy 3 Varieties 4 Heinz takeover 5 Canada 6 References 7 External links Early history Bottle of Original HP Sauce The original recipe for HP Sauce was invented and developed by Frederick Gibson Garton, a grocer from Nottingham. He registered the name H.P. Sauce in 1895. Garton called the sauce HP because he had heard that a restaurant in the Houses of Parliament had begun serving it. For many years the bottle labels have carried a picture of the Houses of Parliament. Garton sold the recipe and HP brand to Edwin Samson Moore for the sum of £ 150 and the settlement of some unpaid bills. Moore, the founder of the Midlands Vinegar Company ( the forerunner of HP Foods ), subsequently launched HP Sauce in 1903. In 2013, nearly 140 years since it was established, the Midland Vinegar Company Limited returned to the originator 's family, with Nigel Britton, great great grandson of the founders, now being the owner. For many years the description on the label was in both English and French. The factory in Aston, Birmingham, was once bisected by the A38 ( M ) motorway and had a pipeline, carrying vinegar over the motorway, from the Top Yard to the main Tower Road factory site. The Top Yard site was subsequently closed, and vinegar was not brewed on the Aston site during the last few years of production there. Wilson 's gravy HP Sauce became known as `` Wilson 's gravy '' in the 1960s and 1970s after Harold Wilson, the Labour Prime Minister. The name arose after Wilson 's wife, Mary, gave an interview to The Sunday Times in which she claimed `` If Harold has a fault, it is that he will drown everything with HP Sauce. '' Varieties Bottle of Fruity HP Sauce HP Sauce is available in a range of formats and sizes, including the iconic 8.99 oz / 255g glass bottle, squeezy plastic bottle, and TopDown bottle. Also the ingredients vary markedly. In 2007 for example the varieties from Mexico and Canada were less concentrated and more light. In addition, a number of other products exist under the HP brand. HP Fruity is a milder version of the Original brown sauce, using a blend of fruits including oranges and mango to give a milder, tangier taste. This variety has been renamed `` HP Chicken & Rib '' in Canada and the US ( though it can be found in some stores with the original name ). HP Beef is a spicier variant in Canada. HP BBQ Sauce is a range of barbecue sauces, and is the UK 's best selling barbecue sauce product. In March 2008, HP also announced the launch of HP Steak Sauce. HP Guinness is a steak sauce which includes the famous Irish stout. In the summer of 2008 a version with less salt ( 45 % ) and sugar ( 80 % ) than the original HP Taste was released. Since 2011 HP sauce has been manufactured with a new reduced sodium recipe 0.8 g per 100 ml. The traditional recipe was 1.2 g sodium per 100 ml. This was a direct result of Government policy with regard to salt levels in food. Consumers report that the taste is now more sour or even tastes `` off '', which has led to complaints to Heinz. Heinz takeover Signage from the defunct factory in Aston, exhibited at Birmingham 's mac gallery in June 2010 The brand was passed from the Midlands Vinegar Company to Smedley HP Foods Limited, acquired by a division of Imperial Tobacco, then sold to the French Groupe Danone SA in 1988 for £ 199 million. In June 2005, Heinz purchased the parent company, HP Foods, from Danone. In October of that year the United Kingdom Office of Fair Trading referred the takeover to the Competition Commission, which approved the £ 440 million acquisition in April 2006. The HP Sauce factory in 2006 In May 2006, Heinz announced plans to switch production of HP Sauce from Aston to its European sauces facility in Elst, Netherlands, only weeks after HP launched a campaign to `` Save the Proper British Cafe ''. The announcement prompted a call to boycott Heinz products. The move, resulting in the loss of approximately one hundred and twenty - five jobs at the Aston factory, was criticised by politicians and union officials, especially as the parent company still wanted to use the image of the House of Commons on its bottles. In the same month, local Labour MP Khalid Mahmood brandished a bottle of HP Sauce during Prime Minister 's Questions in the House of Commons as part of a protest against the Heinz move. He also made reference to the sauce 's popularity with the former Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson. These plans were confirmed on 23 August 2006 and the factory at Aston ceased production on 16 March 2007. A week later a `` wake '' was held at the location of the factory. The factory was demolished in the summer of 2007. The tower of the factory was a famous landmark alongside the Aston Expressway. One of the giant logos from the top of the tower is now in the collection of Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery. The six - acre Aston site was purchased by developer Chancerygate in 2007 at £ 800,000 per acre, but they subsequently sold it for half that price and it now houses a distribution warehouse for East End Foods. Canada HP Sauce for the Canadian market is manufactured by H.J. Heinz of North York, Ontario. HP Sauce accompanying lobster, steak, and mushrooms in a Prince Edward Island restaurant References Jump up ^ O'Hara, Christopher B. ; Nash, William A. ( 1999 ). The Bloody Mary : A Connoisseur 's Guide to the World 's Most Complex Cocktail. Globe Pequot. p. 87. ^ Jump up to : BBC News 9 May 2006 ' Great British ' sauce heads abroad. Retrieved 12 March 2008. Jump up ^ Authority, Competition ( 2012 ). HJ Heinz and HP Foods : A Report on... -- Great Britain : Competition Commission. books.google.ie. Retrieved 1 January 2012. Jump up ^ `` HP Brown Sauce ''. Heinz. Jump up ^ `` HP Sauce - Story ''. Heinz. Retrieved 17 May 2012. ^ Jump up to : Thring, Oliver ( 4 May 2010 ). `` Consider the brown source guardian.co.uk ''. The Guardian. London. Retrieved 7 July 2010. Jump up ^ Hélène Mulholland ( 13 October 2006 ). `` Ban HP from Houses of Parliament, say MPs ''. The Guardian. London. Retrieved 22 April 2018. Jump up ^ `` Heinz and the HP Sauce Brand in 2007 -- A Consumers Perspective ''. 6 June 2007. Jump up ^ IRI Data, 52w / e 26 Jan 8 Jump up ^ `` HP Sauce 's recipe secretly changed after 116 years by American owners of the Great British Condiment ''. Daily Mail. 10 September 2011. Retrieved 15 February 2012. Jump up ^ BBC News Heinz buys HP sauce in £ 470m deal, 20 June 2005. Retrieved 11 March 2008. Jump up ^ `` Business Heinz buys HP sauce in £ 470m deal ''. BBC News. 20 June 2005. Retrieved 7 July 2010. Jump up ^ `` Business Watchdogs probe HP sauce takeover ''. BBC News. 26 October 2005. Retrieved 7 July 2010. Jump up ^ Terry Macalister ( 10 May 2006 ). `` HP Sauce to be Holland - ised Business ''. The Guardian. London. Retrieved 7 July 2010. Jump up ^ `` England Staff told of HP factory closure ''. BBC News. 23 August 2006. Retrieved 7 July 2010. Jump up ^ `` England Final British bottle of HP sauce ''. BBC News. 16 March 2007. Retrieved 7 July 2010. Jump up ^ `` England Mock wake staged in sauce protest ''. BBC News. 23 March 2007. Retrieved 7 July 2010. Jump up ^ `` England Demolition of HP factory begins ''. BBC News. 2 July 2007. Retrieved 7 July 2010. Jump up ^ `` M6 CORRIDOR : Lonely road ''. Logistics Manager. 4 September 2009. Retrieved 25 May 2012. ( subscription required ) External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to HP Sauce. BBC News -- Final Bottle of HP Official HP Sauce website Coverage of planned closure of Aston factory Heinz Founded in 1869 Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Ownership 3G Capital Berkshire Hathaway Kraft Heinz Company Brands Heinz Ketchup Dip & Squeeze Beans Salad cream Sandwich Spread Tomate frito Farley 's Golden Circle Greenseas HP Foods Daddies HP Sauce Lea & Perrins Ore - Ida Bagel Bites Tater Tots T.G.I. Friday 's Wattie 's Weight Watchers from Heinz Wyler 's Mrs. Grass Former Brands Boston Market Kibbles ' n Bits People Henry J. Heinz ( Founder ) H.J. Heinz II ( former CEO ) William R. Johnson ( President, CEO and chairman ) Tony O'Reilly ( former CEO and chairman ) Facilities North America Lofts Asia Northgate Europe Kitt Green Heinz 57 Good things come to those who wait Brown sauces Meat - based Bordelaise sauce Breton sauce Chasseur sauce Chaudfroid sauce Demi - glace Espagnole sauce Rouennaise sauce Sauce africaine Sauce bourguignonne Sauce Robert Sauce charcutière Vinegar - based British brown sauce Daddies HP Sauce OK Sauce Steak sauce A. 1. Steak Sauce Henry Bain sauce English cuisine Roman times Dishes Sausages Middle Ages Exemplars Utilis Coquinario The Forme of Cury ( c. 1390 ) Dishes Apple pie Bacon Banbury cake Cheesecake Custard Game pie Gingerbread Kippers Mince pie Mortis Pasty Pease pudding Pie Pottage 16th century Exemplars Thomas Dawson ( The Good Huswifes Jewell, 1585 ) Dishes Black pudding Fruit fool Pancake Scones Syllabub Trifle ( without jelly ) 17th century Exemplars Elinor Fettiplace ( Receipt Book, 1604 ) Gervase Markham ( The English Huswife, 1615 ) Robert May ( The Accomplisht Cook, 1660 ) Hannah Woolley ( The Queen - like Closet or Rich Cabinet 1670 ) Kenelm Digby ( The Closet Opened 1699 ) Dishes Battalia pie Currant bun Queen of Puddings Sponge cake Sussex pond pudding Sweet and sour Tea 18th century Exemplars Mary Kettilby ( A Collection of above Three Hundred Receipts 1714 ) John Nott ( The Cooks and Confectioners Dictionary, 1723 ) Eliza Smith ( The Compleat Housewife 1727 ) Hannah Glasse ( The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy 1747 ) Elizabeth Raffald ( The Experienced English Housekeeper 1769 ) Richard Briggs ( The English Art of Cookery 1788 ) William Augustus Henderson ( The Housekeeper 's Instructor 1791 ) Dishes Bread and butter pudding Christmas pudding Chutney Cottage or Shepherd 's pie Eccles cake Jellied eels Jugged hare Ketchup Marmalade Parkin Piccalilli Pork pie Roast beef Sandwich Scouse Suet pudding Toad in the hole Trifle ( with jelly ) Welsh rabbit Yorkshire pudding 19th century Exemplars Mrs Rundell ( A New System of Domestic Cookery 1806 ) Eliza Acton ( Modern Cookery for Private Families 1845 ) Charles Elmé Francatelli ( The Modern Cook 1846 ) Isabella Beeton ( Mrs Beeton 's Book of Household Management 1861 ) Dishes Bubble and squeak Cauliflower cheese Cobbler Devilled kidneys Faggots Fish and chips Full English breakfast HP Sauce Ice cream cone Lancashire hotpot Potted shrimps Sausage roll Steak and kidney pudding Battenberg cake Eton mess Eve 's pudding Jam roly - poly Lardy cake Madeira cake Summer pudding Worcestershire sauce 20th century Exemplars Elizabeth David ( A Book of Mediterranean Food 1950 ) Constance Spry Marguerite Patten Jane Grigson Delia Smith Rick Stein Nigel Slater Keith Floyd Marco Pierre White Fergus Henderson Gordon Ramsay Gary Rhodes Dishes Bakewell tart Beef Wellington Carrot cake Chicken tikka masala Crumble Knickerbocker glory Ploughman 's lunch Salad cream 21st century Exemplars Michel Roux Jr. ( Le Gavroche ) Hugh Fearnley - Whittingstall ( River Cottage ) Antony Worrall Thompson Heston Blumenthal ( The Fat Duck ) Mary Berry Clarissa Dickson Wright ( A History of English Food 2011 ) Related Food in England ( 1954 ) List of English dishes List of English cheeses List of puddings Rationing in the United Kingdom Food portal Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=HP_Sauce&oldid=850406493 '' Categories : Food brands of the United Kingdom British brands British condiments Brown sauces H.J. Heinz Company brands Brand name condiments Products introduced in 1895 Steak sauces Hidden categories : Pages containing links to subscription - only content EngvarB from September 2017 Use dmy dates from September 2017 Articles needing additional references from October 2010 All articles needing additional references All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from January 2017 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Català Dansk Deutsch Español Français Nederlands Norsk Scots Suomi Svenska 中文 4 more Edit links This page was last edited on 15 July 2018, at 17 : 34 ( UTC ). Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: what does hp stand for in the sauce
Answer: Houses of Parliament