Loch Fyne Oysters is a seafood and meat company that operates on the banks of

Loch Fyne Loch Fyne (, ; meaning "Loch of the Vine/Wine"), is a sea loch off the Firth of Clyde and forms part of the coast of the Cowal, Cowal Peninsula. Located on the west coast of Argyll and Bute, west of Scotland. It extends inland from the Sound o ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. The company created the Loch Fyne Restaurants chain, which was later sold to

Greene King Greene King is a British pub and brewing company founded in 1799, currently based in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. The company also owns brands including Hungry Horse and Farmhouse Inns, as well as other pubs, restaurants and hotels. It was listed o ...

. Loch Fyne Oysters still owns the Loch Fyne brand and supplies its products to the restaurant chain.

History

The company takes its name from

, a

sea loch ''Loch'' ( ) is a word meaning "lake" or "inlet, sea inlet" in Scottish Gaelic, Scottish and Irish Gaelic, subsequently borrowed into English. In Irish contexts, it often appears in the anglicized form "lough". A small loch is sometimes calle ...

on the west coast of

. The business started life in 1979 as an

oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but no ...

farm in that loch. It was originally a joint venture by Johnny Noble, the owner of the nearby Ardkinglas Estate, and Andy Lane, a fish farmer and biologist. Initially the business sold their oysters to UK restaurants. In the early 1980s the company diversified into the supply of other seafood, and opened a

smokehouse A smokehouse (North American) or smokery (British) is a building where meat or fish is curing (food preservation), cured with Smoking (cooking), smoke. The finished product might be stored in the building, sometimes for a year or more.salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

and other fish. In 1988 the Loch Fyne Oyster Bar was opened adjacent to the A83 road on the banks of the loch at Clachan, on the other side of the head of the loch from

Cairndow Cairndow () is a coastal hamlet (place), hamlet in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. The town lies between the A83 road and the head of Loch Fyne. Cairndow's school closed in 1988 after the roll fell to just 3 pupils. Now children in the area are sen ...

. The first Loch Fyne Oyster Bar away from the loch opened in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

in 1990, followed by a second near

Peterborough Peterborough ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The city is north of London, on the River Nene. A ...

. Towards the end of the 1990s, the founders of the business began to look for partners to develop a larger restaurant chain and were joined by two entrepreneurs, Ian Glyn and Mark Derry. In 1998 the Loch Fyne Restaurant chain was founded, as a separately owned business using the Loch Fyne name under licence from Loch Fyne Oysters. In 2002, Johnny Noble died and Loch Fyne Oysters was placed on the market. In 2003 it became an employee owned company, with its shares owned by 100 of its employees. Loch Fyne Oysters continues to run the Cairndow Oyster Bar, along with the oyster and mussel farms and smokehouses. It sells its product to the Loch Fyne Restaurant chain, to other restaurants, and over the internet. As of 2007, the Loch Fyne Restaurant chain operated 38 restaurants across the UK. In August 2007, the restaurant chain (but not Loch Fyne Oysters) was bought by the Greene King Brewery for £68 million. In 2012, the employee-owned company was taken over by Scottish Seafood Investments. In 2013 Loch Fyne Oysters Ltd as part of an aquaculture strategy bought a controlling share of Seasalter (Walney) Ltd, the UK's only mainland oyster hatchery and producers of Morecambe Bay Oysters. In 2013 Loch Fyne Oysters Ltd also acquired the assets of Hebridean Mussels & Hebridean Seafoods a well established mussel farming and processing business located in Loch Roag on the Isle of Lewis. In 2023, the company was acquired by Associated Seafoods Ltd. In 2024, Associated Seafoods Ltd. announced that the salmon processing would be moved to

Buckie Buckie () is a burgh town (defined as such in List of burghs in Scotland, 1888) on the Moray Firth coast of Scotland. Counties of Scotland, Historically in Banffshire, Buckie was the largest town in the county until the administrative area was ...

. The factory is to be converted to a charcuterie in the coming years.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Restaurant chains in the United Kingdom Oyster bars Food and drink companies of Scotland 1979 establishments in Scotland Employee-owned companies of the United Kingdom

History

See also

References

External links