One hundred years after two Belgian industrialists first “cracked the code” to enamelling cast-iron and created the first Le Creuset cocotte, the highly covetable cookware brand continues to grace the middle-class kitchen.
With prices reflecting its status, however, fans are always on the lookout for bargains for the colourful range, which is still made in the original foundry established in 1925 in the village of Fresnoy-le-Grand, about two hours north of Paris.
So when the company announced a sale at its warehouse in Andover, Hampshire, at the weekend, demand was expected to be high, though few would have predicted just how high.
Bargain-hunters found themselves queueing for up to four hours on the pavement outside as hundreds turned up at an industrial estate to take advantage of offers of up to half-price on casserole pots, saucepans, kettles and more.
Such was the popularity of the two-day sale that Hampshire police were called to deal with the ensuing traffic chaos as social media videos showed hundreds of cars parked on the side of neighbouring roads around the business park.
“We attended London Road and the A3093 in Andover [on] Saturday morning following reports of heavy congestion in the area,” a spokesperson for Hampshire constabulary told the Telegraph.
“We began receiving reports at 9.45am and we attended to assist with traffic control. Traffic had eased by around 11.15am and we left the area shortly afterwards.”
On a local Facebook group, one shopper said despite arriving shortly after 9am, she was in a queue until 2pm. Others posted TikTok videos of themselves waiting to get in.
The company billed the Andover warehouse sale its “largest in-person event”, unticketed, and on a first-come-first-served basis. It was its second at the venue this year, having held a similar sale in March.
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With prices of its signature casserole dish – normally costing between £200 and £400 – and other items all slashed, by the time those at the end of the queue got in, “most things were gone”, one shopper wrote on Facebook.
The firm’s popularity has endured since its founders, the industrialists Armand Desaegher and Octave Aubecq, who met at the Brussels Fair a century ago, designed the first cocotte in the brand’s most recognisable orange Volcanic enamel, the signature hue inspired by the fiery colour of molten cast iron inside the foundry moulds.
In the 1960s, it introduced its yellow Elysee range. The most expensive Le Creuset set sold belonged to Marilyn Monroe. whose set of Elysee yellow cast iron pieces was auctioned at Christie’s for $25,300 (£19,600) in 1999.
Today, the range can be bought in many different colours. An entire pallet of 157 pieces including tableware, baking ware and crockery was recently on offer at Costco in the US for $4,500 (approximately £3,500).