Today, PG Tips is synonymous with tea. But, it was almost a cotton company.
Arthur Brooke, the founder of PG Tips, first worked in the cotton business. Arthur started working at a cotton mill in Lancashire, England. Charles Brooke, Arthur’s father, decided he should enter the cotton business. Coincidentally, Charles was a wholesaler of tea. But, Arthur’s foray in the cotton business did not last. The US Civil War caused disruption to the importing of cotton into the UK. So, Arthur went to work for a tea wholesaler.