#WBD Blog
Oct 26, 2025
Rowse Honey
Rowse Honey’s journey began in 1938 when Tony Rowse started beekeeping in a shed in Ewelme, Oxfordshire, formally establishing the Rowse Honey Company in the village in 1954. From these simple beginnings, Rowse has grown to become the UK’s leading honey brand, partnering with companies like Pret to provide honey for porridge, while expanding their product range to include lemon curd and maple syrup.
For over eight decades, Rowse has continued to grow – the company launched Fusion, a range of honeys infused with savoury ingredients for cooking such as stir fries and glazes.
Rowse’s environmental partnerships focus on bee conservation and sustainable beekeeping through its comprehensive “Hives for Lives” programme. This multi-faceted initiative supports Bees for Development in Ethiopia to combat poverty and reforest degraded land, funds vital research through the University of Sussex, sponsors the Bee Farmers’ Association’s apprenticeship scheme to train new British bee farmers, and partners with Blenheim Palace and other organisations to restore wildflower habitats across the UK.
Rowse Paper Snap & Squeeze was awarded the Gold medal in the “Food on the go” category at The Grocer New Product & Packaging Awards 2023, with the environmentally conscious single-portion packaging solution featuring an innovative fold and snap mechanism.
Even though the language did not exist in the 1940s and 1950s in their early days Rowse Honey would have been much like the multitude of modern start-up brands that focus on artisanal authenticity; an engaging founder story; provenance; a distinctive, small is beautiful, brand; and then must embrace the long haul of navigating numerous brand building challenges and maintaining superior quality as they scale. Because Rowse was successful, and is now a long-established classic brand, this is largely forgotten. @WhatBrandsDo we NEVER underestimate to power of longevity!
The real reason they are still a fixture in our supermarkets is because, as this piece highlights, they do not stand still. They understand that brand building is relentless.
- They innovate – enter Paper Snap & Squeeze. Simple, on brand, fitting a need, sustainably packaged and deserving of the Grocer Gold Medal. Fusion is referenced as a good example of a brand innovating to keep relevant in the face of new trends – e.g. the growth in home cooking and the need for quality products for busy home cooks.
- **Rowse also work hard to position the brand beyond the product. They were early into the now established and important territory of bee conservation, and they have built a range of initiatives around this, all of which look authentic and relevant. It is clear Rowse Honey know equity is hard to build, easy to lose, so they communicate this.
Here is to the next 90 or so years.
