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

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

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. The company created the

Loch Fyne Restaurants Loch Fyne Restaurants is a chain of nine seafood restaurants in the United Kingdom owned and operated by Greene King plc. History The company takes its name from Loch Fyne, a sea loch on the west coast of Scotland. The business started life a ...

chain, which was later sold to

Greene King Greene King is a large pub retailer and brewer. It is based in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England. The company owns pubs, restaurants and hotels. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by CK Assets in October 2019. H ...

. 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 the Scottish Gaelic, Scots and Irish word for a lake or sea inlet. It is cognate with the Manx lough, Cornish logh, and one of the Welsh words for lake, llwch. In English English and Hiberno-English, the anglicised spel ...

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 not ...

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 cured with smoke. The finished product might be stored in the building, sometimes for a year or more.

to smoke

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus ''Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Oncorhy ...

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; ( gd, An Càrn Dubh) is a coastal hamlet, on the Cowal peninsula in Argyll and Bute, Scottish Highlands. 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 pu ...

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

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

in 1990, followed by a second near

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

. 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 Greene King is a large pub retailer and brewer. It is based in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England. The company owns pubs, restaurants and hotels. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by CK Assets in October 2019. H ...

for £68 million. In 2012, the employee-owned company was taken over by Scottish Seafood Investments.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Restaurant groups 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