Did you know? That this little throat lozenge is exported all over the world? Fisherman’s Friend – made in Fleetwood. A global success story!
RIP Mrs Lofthouse
Fleetwood and the Fylde Coast is saddened to hear of the passing of Mrs Doreen Lofthouse on 31 March 2021, at the grand old age of 91 years.
Mrs Lofthouse will be sadly missed by many people and the town she loved. But she’ll never be forgotten. Her name will always live on.
There’s more further down this page about how Mrs Lofthouse was the one to transform the Fisherman’s Friend into the global success story it is today. It was back in 1963 when she worked her magic at Lofthouses of Fleetwood. Now, these little lozenges are on sale in more than 100 countries. The Fleetwood factory makes five billion of them each year!
Supporters of Fleetwood…
The Lofthouse family have been amazing supporters of their home town of Fleetwood over the years. They have made numerous financial contributions towards different projects – too many to list.
Donations have been made towards the restoration of The Mount Gardens, and the Marine Hall. They paid for the Welcome Home statue on The Esplanade… and much, much more.
In 2001 they first sponsored the ‘Illuminated Trawler‘, modelled on their company emblem, Cevic FD241. As an aside, Fleetwood trawler Cevic ran aground off the Isle of Man in June 1917.
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In 2016 the Illuminated Trawler was fully refurbished and lit in LEDs and it’s back on the tracks again today. Doesn’t it look amazing!
…and Intending to Stay
In 2020, amid the coronavirus pandemic, planning for the future continues at Lofthouse of Fleetwood.
The business now has a workforce of 380 people. Sales in 2018 reached £55.8m. It’s one of Fleetwood’s main employers and benefactors. Currently operating from premises on Copse Road, backing onto Amounderness Way.
After manufacturing on the current site for almost 50 years, production is now reaching full capacity.
In the summer of 2020 they acquired a 19.5 acre plot of land next to the existing factory, previously owned by ABP (Associated British Ports). It will gradually be developed over coming years, with phased transfer of operations. The existing site will remain in use for the foreseeable future.
The acquisition of land marks the companies commitment to Fleetwood and intention to safeguard the company’s future here. In 2023 planning consent was granted for a new 36,364 square metre factory on land south of Windward Avenue.
New Future Factory for Fisherman’s Friend
On 6 September 2023 Wyre Council granted permission for the new Fisherman’s Friend factory. It’s to include a main production area, warehouse, engineering and services area. An office block for staff, a link area containing staff canteen, staff facilities, landscaping and parking. Plans also include a detached security lodge/gatehouse and building a new access off Windward Avenue. There are associated drainage works including a pond, landscaping, and ecological mitigation.
However, the approval came with a long list of conditions, including changes to the site plan and main building.
Duncan Lofthouse is managing director of Lofthouse of Fleetwood. He said “It’s still a long-term project – five to seven years. One or two minor issues may need to be resolved before our planning application is finally approved.”
Further Funding for Community Projects
According to a story broke in the Sunday Times on 25 August 2019, Mrs Lofthouse has pledged a whopping great big £30m to fund community projects in her hometown. The broadsheet reported “Details of the £30m are shown in accounts for the family’s foundation.
“Part of the money has been bequeathed in the name of Doreen Lofthouse’s late husband Tony, who died at the age of 74 in January last year. The pair served as joint managing directors.”
Doreen Lofthouse and family have set aside the sum for “charitable purposes for the benefit of the people of Fleetwood and its environs”.
Fisherman’s Friend – Made in Fleetwood
Fleetwood Museum is staging an exhibition, all about this local lozenge. Featuring many pieces of memorabilia from Lofthouse of Fleetwood.
Why don’t you go along and take a look? There’s all kinds of interesting information and artefacts from the companies own archive.
How Fisherman’s Friend Began
In 1865 the Fleetwood pharmacist James Lofthouse created a menthol and eucalyptus liquid for fishermen who were heading off to the North Atlantic fishing grounds.
Available at the time only in little glass bottles, it helped to clear congestion and warm up the weary fishermen. But glass bottles of liquid isn’t really practical in high seas. So James found a way to make a lozenge.
James Lofthouse original shop was at 103 Lord Street, on the corner of Lord and Preston Streets. There’s a window display in the reception area of the Copse Street factory, just like this original shop.
Another shop later opened at Broadwater. And there were seasonal outlets in Fleetwood, like the one at the pier. The original shop is now a Turkish Barbers.
Did you know? The first labels were made using a typewriter. They’re black and red so as not to waste both colours on the ribbon.
They sold steadily to fishermen and Fylde Coast residents for the best part of 100 years…
…Along came Doreen Lofthouse
By the late 1960’s, holiday makers are getting in touch to ask where they can buy the sweets which they had while on holiday.
Doreen Lofthouse married into the family. She’s the one who famously transformed the small Fleetwood business into the worldwide household name that it is today. She recognised the potential and began travelling the north west in the Fisherman’s Friend van. Soon they were on sale much further away than the Fylde Coast.
In 1972, packaging moves to a newly converted tram shed in Fleetwood. They actually made the tablets at Bold Street tram depot between 1969 and 1972. Then in 1974, they’re exported for the first time, to Belgium and Norway.
In 1977 Aniseed arrives. It’s the first of the flavoured Fisherman’s Friend. The new lozenge is modelled on a button from one of Doreen Lofthouses dresses.
Sugar Free
We’re all used to seeing sugar free options of our favourite confectionery. In 1979 the famous lozenge became available with artificial sweeteners.
Did you know? Fisherman’s Friend made the first sugar free mint?
Award Winning
In 1983, Fisherman’s Friend won its first Queen’s Award for Export Achievement. Since then, another two awards have been made.
Did you know? It’s the only UK company to have won three Queen’s Awards for Export?
Keep on Trucking
Fleetwood’s famous throat sweets are exported to more than 100 countries around the world. They’re available in all of these flavours:
- Blackcurrant
- Cherry
- Lemon
- Mint
- Original
- Spearmint
- Aniseed
- Honey & Lemon
How do they do that?
If you’re anything like us you’ll love looking around factories. Here at Visit Fylde Coast we had the pleasure of a tour of Fisherman’s Friend some years ago. What a fascinating place!
Here’s a clip from the Discovery channel ‘How do they Do It’. (Starts 30s into the clip).
Famous Faces
Tenor Alfie Boe is another famous Fleetwood export. Back in 2016 he starred in a TV commercial for Fisherman’s Friend. This video shows how the ad was made, including clips inside the factory –
And here’s the finished commercial –
Spotted in…
Where have you spotted Fisherman’s Friends – made in Fleetwood and sold all over the world?
We know that many of you have spotted these distinctive little packets when you’ve been on holiday abroad.
Leave a comment below and tell us where you’ve seen them. Let’s see who can get the most far-flung place! If you’ve got any photos to add, email them to jane@therabbitpatch.co.uk
Rita emailed with this location “My Canadian cousin Di and her husband Jeff, who live in Vancouver, have been buying Fisherman’s Friends for years having been introduced to them by my mother when she was over there on holiday.”
Karen added “My daughter lives in Bali, Indonesia. The lozenges are very popular there, in myriad exotic flavours. The trawler on the wrapping always reminds her of Fleetwood. Her fiance couldn’t believe they are made in the factory just near my house, when he visited here. Truly a global phenomenon.”
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One package of Originals found its way to Colombia in my mother’s purse, who got them as a gift in Paris, France from a Costa Rican fellow traveler of hers who noticed she had a cough. After Paris, they journeyed with her through Switzerland, Italy and Spain, on their way to our country. The package is in French, so that’s where it was initially acquired. Now it’s stored in a drawer in our town of Guatapé, being used occasionally when one of us has a sore throat. I do enjoy the taste, so I don’t take only one but to or three at a time like I did just now -which made me wonder where they came from originally, leading me to read this very post.
Thanks for sharing, what an interesting tale!
The store store where I have been buying them is no longer selling them.
Can I buy them straight from the factory?
Kathy Giersberg
Kitykatv.g @gmail.com
Thank you
Lemon Fisherman’s Friend in Barbados 1998. Loved them. Brought some home for Dad who was an acquaintance of the Lofthouses (a fellow-business man). He told Doreen where I had bought them.