Enter the code you have found nearby to unlock this audio story (codes are lowercase and contain no spaces or special characters).
Sorry, that's the wrong code! Please carefully read the clue and try again. Remember, codes are lowercase and contain no spaces or special characters.
Congratulations! You’ve successfully unlocked the audio story. You can play it below. A full transcript is also available on this page, along with additional photos and information about this location.
Whitehall Riverside Way Bridge (2007)
Soapy Joe and the Whitehall Soap Works
This stretch of river was once home to significant heavy industry, including cloth mills, a power station and a soap factory.
Joseph Watson joined his family’s soap business as a young man in 1892, eventually becoming chairman. The company, founded by his grandfather James Watson as a tanning business in 1816, established a huge factory here on the riverside in the 1860s and became known for its popular soap brands like “Watsons Matchless Cleanser” and “Venus Soap.” Nicknamed Soapy Joe, he continued to expand the business, competing with his big soap rival William Lever. During the First World War he secretly aided wartime munitions efforts, establishing a shell production facility in East Leeds, making use of the by-products of soap manufacture. He eventually sold all his shares to Lever Brothers in 1917, making him an extremely wealthy man by his mid-40s. In 1922 he died prematurely in a riding accident, having just been given a peerage. The Whitehall factory continued under Unilever until it closed in 1987.
Soapy Joe's factory in the early 1900s
The land was used as a car park for many years before the Whitehall Riverside development, including this elegant tilted arch bridge, was started in the early 2000s.
The first new river crossing of the 21st century, Whitehall Riverside Way Bridge opened in 2007, and connects the Whitehall waterfront on the north bank of the river with the towpath of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. This allows pedestrian and cycle traffic to access the station and Granary Wharf more easily.
Today, as a nod to Soapy Joe and his business, the hotel bar and restaurant of the nearby Novotel retains the name The Soap Factory.
