A British organic beauty and wellbeing company founded in Covent Garden in 1981 by Romy Fraser, now making its products at an eco factory in North Dorset.
Neal's Yard Remedies makes natural and organic skincare, body care, haircare and wellbeing products, many of them certified organic by the Soil Association. It says it uses the highest possible percentage of organic ingredients and ethically sourced herbs, botanicals and essential oils. Its products are made in small batches and checked by hand at its eco factory in North Dorset, where organic gardens grow plants such as calendula, St John's wort, verbena and lemon balm.
Romy Fraser, a teacher and single parent, founded the company in 1981 and opened its first shop in Neal's Yard, Covent Garden, in London. It was first called Neal's Yard Apothecary and changed its name in 1986, when a franchise opened in Oxford, so that people would not think it was a registered pharmacy. Her neighbour Nicholas Saunders of Neal's Yard Wholefoods shared the premises and guaranteed her bank loan. Production started in Balham in South London and moved to a larger factory in 1993. Ms Fraser received an OBE in 2008. The Kindersley family became the owners and, in 2008, shared 15% of the company with 280 employees.
In 2005 the headquarters moved from Battersea to Peacemarsh, near Gillingham in Dorset, where Wikipedia says the site employed 222 people in 2018. The company's own site says it has an eco factory, offices and a shop in North Dorset, with energy-efficient design, water recycling and solar panels. It also had a direct-selling arm, NYR Organics, that had 5,000 UK sellers in 2013. As of 2013, it had 60 stores internationally. These figures are older and we did not find a current UK shop count.
The company's own words are: "We do good so you can feel good and look good naturally." It believes outer beauty and inner health should be in balance, which is the idea behind its tree logo. It says it is certified cruelty-free, certified carbon neutral and a member of the Good Shopping Guide, and it received 100/100 for ethics from the Ethical Company Organisation in 2014. It won a 2015 Guardian Sustainable Business Award for supply-chain innovation. Wikipedia also records regulatory criticism of some past products, so it is worth reading independent accounts as well as the company's own.
A company with a farm, a factory and shops employs a wide range of people: production staff and gardeners, product developers and chemists, quality and regulatory specialists, shop managers and advisers, marketing and online teams, and finance and customer care. If you like plants, science, sustainability or retail, there are roles in each. The company's own website is the best place to look for vacancies.
Website: www.nealsyardremedies.com
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