Parle-G biscuits have been one of the most popular tea-time snacks of India for decades now. Chai has been incomplete without them. Simple, wholesome and delicious, they have been the staple evening snack of a whole generation. If there are two things that middle-class India has grown up with, it’s Parle-G and Maggi. Maggi, maybe not for everybody, but Parle-G most definitely.

© Youtube

Turns out, the 87-year-old legacy is ending. Parle’s iconic factory in Mumbai has shut down after a 87-year run. The smell of freshly made biscuits would no longer linger in the area, much to the dismay of the residents.

Parle Products was set up in Mumbai’s Ville Parle in 1929, and the unit started manufacturing the famous Parle-G biscuits in 1939. Yes, the glucose biscuits have been around for 77 years now. Not many would know, mainly because we weren’t born yet, that Parle-G biscuits were known as Parle-Gluco initially, before the ‘Gluco’ gradually became what it is now.

© Flickr/thehathicooks

The production had been low and the owners saw it best to shut down the unit. Of course, the biscuits would continue to be produced from other units. "Production at the time of closure was negligible. It didn't make commercial sense to keep it running," said Arup Chauhan, Parle Products executive director. The factory was a landmark and it is likely that Parle will not give up the land, the ET reported.

As opposed to popular conception, Ville Parle was not named after the brand Parle, rather the brand was named after the area. Like those local confectionaries that take the name of the area; Delhi’s Defence Bakery is a classic example. So iconic was the Parle brand that we always assumed otherwise!

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The Parle brand has under it many other biscuit brands like Hide & Seek, Monaco, KrackJack, and the very popular candies Melody and Mango Bite too. Safe to say, it’s the grand daddy of the locality who the children run to for goodies.

Twitter saw some nostalgia in the air:

Vile Parle now will be without Parle...its shutting down. No Parle G smell while the train halts near factory after Andheri. CC @khanmvar — Frank A. (@LegallyIdiot) July 28, 2016

Now that Parle G factory in Vile Parle has shutdown, will it now be called Vile? — Ray Stings (@Purba_Ray) July 30, 2016

What’s your sweetest memory of Parle-G? Weren’t they our SOS food in hostels, while travelling, and when we were broke?

H/t - ET

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