'N'owt too fancy' - Fortune's Kippers in Whitby keep 150 year-old methods as traditional smoke house marks milestone anniversary

Fortune’s Kippers has been a mainstay in the North Yorkshire port for a century-and-a-half, its customers passing along the cobbles of Henrietta Street to pick up produce that has become a favourite of even the Royal family.

The business is celebrating its 150th birthday this year, with the fifth generation of the founder’s family now at the helm.

Not a great deal has changed, says Barry Brown, as he gazes out over the harbour, piers and North Sea beyond, which has become his “office” for the past 27 years.

He left his job as a steel erector in the 1990s to join his brother, Derek, in the business and keep going, what is now, the last smokehouse of its kind in the town.

“The only thing that has changed is environmental health, but the way that we smoke and process everything is just the same,” he said.

“All we know is that they won’t come out until we think they are ready for selling.”

Three sets of fires burn in the smokehouse and it takes between 18 and 22 hours for the fish to smoke before going on sale in the shop next door. The fish are now caught in Iceland and Norway due to a ban herring fishing in the North Sea by the Common Fisheries Policy in the 1970s.

In a recent addition to the business, Mr Brown’s daughter, Beth, has started an online shop posting kippers out across the UK. One of the most recent recipients of a Fortune’s Kippers delivery was Princess Anne. But there are no more plans for other new developments.

Mr Brown said: “We could not, we have not got the premises to do it and we don’t need to. It would become a different product. We are traditional, that is how we have been shown since we were kids, it is simple and it works - n’owt too fancy.”

But, he added, it has not been “plain-sailing” all the time as a fire on a busy bank holiday almost wiped out the business and a few unwanted guests dropped in after a period of heavy rainfall.

Human bones were exposed in 2013 at the graveyard of St Mary’s Church, which sits above Fortune’s Kippers and next to Whitby Abbey, after a landslide took away part of the cliff.

The large landslip exposed ancient graves when rock started to crumble. The church, founded in about 1110, includes the graveyard that inspired a scene in Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula.

Mr Brown, who is also volunteer station manager for Whitby lifeboat, said: “We had the fires on getting ready for the bank holiday and I think someone opened the door to look in while we were in the yard.

“There was a north-easterly and it set fire to the back end of the smoke house. We know that because it was a totally different colour to what it should be.

“Derek was stood on top sticking a hose-pipe down trying to put it out - he was getting nowhere so we had to get the professionals in. We lost a lot of stock but that is one of those things, we could have lost everything.

“That (the bones) was an episode. There is a pipe that was never reinstated and it brings water out from the churchyard underneath where the graves were. Bits of bones were coming down and all sorts.

“My grandad said as we were kids: ‘Never block the pipes up because you will have the cliff down.’ He must have known.”

History

IT WAS in 1872 that William Fortune founded what has become an institution in the coastal town of Whitby.

His son, Martin, worked at Fortune’s smokehouse and also ran donkey rides. In the late 1940s, Martin handed the firm to his son, William, although work was only seasonal then.

He married Lacy Kelly and they had three children, William, known as Bill, Jean and Brenda.

During the early 1970s, Bill took over with help from his three nephews, Barry, Derek, and Alan. Both Barry and Derek went on to become partners in the business.