Merrythought

Merrythought is a toy manufacturing company established in 1930 in the United Kingdom. The company specialises in soft toys, especially teddy bears. It is the last remaining British teddy bear factory to still make its products in Britain and is located at Ironbridge in Shropshire. The company's site in Ironbridge has a small museum and shop open to the public, as well as being where the toys are made. The site is a former iron foundry building on the banks of the River Severn, less than half a mile upstream from the world-famous Iron Bridge itself. The vicinity is known as Dale End, lying at the bottom of the Coalbrookdale valley, and falls within the wider Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site. The origin of the firm's name is uncertain but possibly derives from an archaic word for "wishbone" – the company has used a wishbone as an emblem since 1992.