Our Heritage

“My family has been making sausages for over 100 years, we are proud of what our small team achieves every day.I am sure my grandfather would approve of the time, care and attention we put into our wonderful sausages.”

Charles Baughan
Our Heritage
Sales literature from Silverdale Motors showing mock up of lorry c 1954
TIMELINE
1898

Charles Ernest Baughan opens first shop with his wife Mildred helping

1922

His eldest sons Jeffrey and Donald join the business; his daughters Marjorie and Muriel look after the younger sons John (Jack) and Reginald (Bacchus).

1938

The business expands and diversifies. With some 20 shops selling meat, meat products and bakery items. Charles’s other sons go their own way, Jack to become a refrigeration engineer, Bacchus to join the RAF.

1958

Purpose built factory is built to manufacture savoury baked products for van sales and national distribution.

Baughans Meat Pie Production c1962 Military Road Colchester
1982

Baughans sold to Freshbake.

1998

Charles Douglas Baughan the son of Bacchus, and grandson of Charles joins Steve Turton, a well-regarded butcher in Exeter – again with a long family history in butchery. Together they grow Westaway Sausages.

2008

Steve and his family leave to concentrate on butchery and Charles and his family take over the Westaway brand.

2012

Westaways add both frozen and fully cooked ranges to their chilled production.

2019

Agreement reached to manufacture Westaway branded items under licence in Hong Kong for distribution in East Asia and China.

2020

Westaways awarded UK packaging innovation of the year for their certified compostable packaging.

2021

Westaway awarded a Judges Special award at the UK Food and Drink Manufacturers Awards for their sustainable packaging.

Charles & Paddy In Hong Kong 2019
2022

Winners of the Taste of the West’s Champion Sausage of the Year with Hogs Pudding.

2023

Westaway-sausages-meat-poultry-seafood-manufacturer-of-the-year-2023Westaways are the winners of the Meat, Poultry & Seafood Manufacturing Company of the Year at the Food Manufacturers Excellence Awards 2023

Future Plans

We see strong growth from both retail and foodservice sectors in the UK as customers align to brands with the same values that they hold. We hope to further reduce the size of our carbon footprint & hope to inspire others to do the same.