Why is HP sauce so called. I know it stands for Houses of Parliament but why?
The original recipe for HP Sauce was invented and developed by Frederick Gibson Garton, a grocer from Nottingham. He registered the name H.P. Sauce in 1896. Garton called the sauce HP because he had heard that a restaurant in the Houses of Parliament had begun serving it (indeed, bottle labels today carry a picture of the Palace of Westminster). Garton sold the recipe and HP brand for the sum of £150 and the settlement of some unpaid bills to Edwin Samson Moore. Moore, the founder of the Midlands Vinegar Company (the forerunner of HP Foods) subsequently launched HP Sauce in 1903. Some stories suggest that the name HP was derived from the name Harry Palmer. Palmer was said to have invented the recipe and sold the product as “Harry Palmer’s Famous Epsom Sauce”. The story then goes that Palmer, an avid gambler at the Epsom Races, was forced to sell the recipe to Garton to cover his debts. However, there is no evidence in the official history of the brand to show Palmer existed, or had any
