Second World War

With the onset of the Second World War, once again a government Tea Controller took ownership of all the stocks of tea. Rationing of tea began in 1940 and continued for a further 12 years.

Wartime bombing devastated the Typhoo factories. Unable to pack their own tea, Typhoo made arrangements to have an emergency blend packed at the factories of Messrs Brooke Bond Ltd and Lyons Ltd. The employees at Typhoo made great efforts to make enough repairs to the factory to allow the Typhoo brand to continue and, by June 1941, a limited amount of genuine Typhoo tea was available. A steady turnover of stock was maintained until the end of the war when the damage to the works could be fully repaired. Wartime also saw a change to the name of the company. 'Sumners' was dropped from the front of the name, leaving Typhoo Tea Ltd.

After tea rationing had finished, Typhoo once again concentrated on promoting their brand. Throughout the 1950s they used various promotional campaigns, including the reintroduction of the picture cards that had been popular before the war.

The tea buyers started to buy more tea from India and introduced a shipping department to deal with the administration. New packing machines were installed at the factory to cope with the increased output and by 1960 Typhoo had become the brand leader.