Labour's Chris Webb has visited the Stanton and Novelty Confectioners rock factory in Blackpool to see for himself the skills needed to make the traditional seaside candy.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 This morning as the Member of Parliament for Blackpool South, I'm here at Stanton and Novelty,
00:04 a third generation rock factory right in the heart of Blackpool.
00:08 We know that cheap imitation rock is flooding the streets of not just Blackpool but the UK.
00:13 We need to save Blackpool rock and that's why I've come here today
00:16 to see how Blackpool rock is made and what we need to do to save it.
00:21 How long has the factory been open then?
00:23 So we've been here since 1969. That's when my granddad started it.
00:27 My dad's been here 35 years. I've been here seven.
00:30 So all day, every day. Production never stops.
00:34 We just keep on making rock. We'll do about 10 boilings a day.
00:37 So how many staff do you have here then?
00:40 At the moment we've got 14. A couple of years ago that was more like 20.
00:44 Back in the day you'd be looking more like 40.
00:49 Wow, okay.
00:49 So we're at minimum staff levels at the moment.
00:52 So we do need to get some more people before the summer
00:54 because that's obviously when we sell a lot more.
00:57 So obviously there's a big issue at the minute about Chinese imports
01:00 and why we're running the cafe to save Blackpool rock.
01:03 Why is that important?
01:03 What's the difference about Blackpool rock compared to the cheap imports?
01:07 I think British people have a cultural affinity to Blackpool rock.
01:13 There's the expectation that if you go to the seaside in the UK and you buy rock
01:18 you would expect that that is made in the UK.
01:21 Now 99% of that is going to be made in Blackpool anyway.
01:24 It doesn't matter where you are around the country.
01:26 So I think that's why it's so important people expect it.
01:29 It's part of our shared cultural heritage.
01:32 Definitely.
01:34 It's something that we need to keep going.
01:35 It's hopefully done.
01:36 You were telling me there's only so many people that can let the sticks of rock now in.
01:39 Yeah, there's only about 30 people still actually doing it.
01:42 Probably about 50 in the country that know how to.
01:45 Okay.
01:46 We've got three of the 30 here and the rest of them are all in Blackpool.
01:51 So yeah, it's definitely a dying trade but one worth saving.
01:55 Definitely.
01:55 And that's why we want as many people to sign the petition
01:58 and then we're going to be putting pressure on whoever's in government
02:01 after this general election to make sure they save this special heritage that we have.
02:06 Not just in Blackpool but in the UK.
02:07 Absolutely.
02:08 Yeah.
02:08 You'd have to separate this section into a load of different sections and pull it by hand.
02:15 So you have to throw it over, pull it, twist it, flip it.
02:18 Wow.
02:19 You have to do that about 70 times in about four different stages.
02:23 Wow.
02:23 So that's probably the biggest technological advance that we've got.
02:28 Yeah.
02:28 Because before that it was even more physical than it is.
02:32 Yeah.
02:32 While that's doing that, Karl's going to be making the letters.
02:36 This one's brighter.
02:37 So I'll show you how he does all that lettering.
02:41 But once it's all wrapped up in a big coat of the casing, it goes into one of these.
02:47 This keeps it warm, keeps it round, keeps it moving.
02:50 Funnels it down smaller and smaller and smaller so it's easier for Matt.
02:54 This section we call spinning it out.
02:57 Yeah.
02:57 So Matty knows purely by experience how thick that stick needs to be.
03:03 Basically you've got to repair a lot of this really old stuff and try to keep it going as long.
03:09 Yeah.
03:09 Yeah.
03:10 And finding ways to repair it.
03:11 You know those scissors we were using?
03:12 I found a pair of those in my father-in-law's garage at the weekend.
03:16 Wow.
03:17 And I asked him for them.
03:17 He said yeah.
03:18 Because otherwise you have to spend like 200 quid on just a big pair of scissors.
03:22 Once it's cold enough it gets cut, gets brought over here to be wrapped.
03:27 Again that's all done by hand with the label in it.
03:29 If you want we can have a go at wrapping some of the rock.
03:33 Yeah.
03:34 You get your view, put it in face down just in the middle.
03:37 Push it forwards again to cover the view.
03:40 Yeah.
03:43 Yeah.
03:44 With your left hand crush that spare bit of paper.
03:47 Yeah.
03:48 And go forward again.
03:48 Yeah.
03:51 Switch your hands over, crush that one on the right hand side, push it over again.
03:56 Right.
04:00 There you are.
04:01 That's not bad.
04:02 All right okay.
04:03 That's actually not bad.
04:04 It's all got to be done by hand.
04:05 If you put it in a machine it breaks the stick because it's so brittle.
04:07 How many sticks of rock are you rolling by hand for this factory?
04:10 Every day?
04:11 Yeah.
04:13 About 15,000.
04:14 So Doreen's an absolute machine.
04:17 I was going to say, she's an absolute machine out there.
04:20 She's absolutely rapid.
04:22 So that's getting whiter and whiter.
04:25 Meanwhile Carl is about to start lettering.
04:28 So he's got it written out there on that little whiteboard.
04:32 Whiteboard, right.
04:33 So it says Brighton Rock.
04:35 So you need one B, two R's, one I, one G, one H, one T, two O's, one N, a C and a K.
04:42 So you need two R's.
04:43 So you make one big one and you cut it in half.
04:45 So this is the bit where there's only 13.
04:49 They can do it.
04:50 And what's the kind of minimum scale that comes to then is it?
04:54 So that one, that one's a big bar.
04:56 So you're going to probably get about 400 bars out of that one.
04:58 It's a big bar.
04:59 On the smaller ones like that you get about 1500.
05:04 So how long have you, how long have you been doing this then?
05:07 50 odd years.
05:11 50 years?
05:12 On and off.
05:13 Yeah.
05:15 Are you not, are you not sick of rock yet?
05:16 No.
05:17 No?
05:17 Oh wow.
05:19 I've just seen, you can see the lettering.
05:21 Yeah.
05:22 That is remarkable how you get that.
05:24 It's hard to explain.
05:28 It is.
05:29 But even watching it I still couldn't get my head around how it's going to give those little letters.
05:33 You do have to watch it.
05:35 It was like piecework years ago.
05:37 And there was a lot more factories.
05:40 Yeah, yeah.
05:41 A lot more.
05:41 But there's about eight that have shut down in the last few years in Wapco hasn't there?
05:45 It's sad.
05:46 Right.
05:47 But the thing is nobody's learning the trade now neither.
05:51 No.
05:51 And it's sad.
05:52 I say it's mind-boggling how seeing them do all the lettering, it's folding in.
05:56 That's right.
05:56 It's got it all perfect.
05:57 We've got the Cumberland sausage, we've got the Cornish pasty, we need to keep those heritage.
06:04 You know it was one thing all parties agreed on.
06:07 It's not often that happens.
06:08 Yeah I worked here.
06:10 When my daughter, when I was expecting my first daughter and she's 46 now.
06:16 Oh, how?
06:17 Yeah.
06:18 But I've been here, there and everywhere in between.
06:21 Yeah.
06:21 You've worked across the town.
06:23 Yeah because he used to come and ask you to go and work for him.
06:26 So I've just been inside the rock factory here in Blackpool.
06:28 I've met with David who runs it as the third generation son in his family.
06:34 And I've met Doreen and a number of members of staff.
06:36 It's a fantastic historic heritage business here in the heart of Blackpool.
06:41 We need to save it.
06:42 Only 30 people now in the UK, mostly in Blackpool, can letter sticks of rock.
06:47 And it's no easy job I can tell you.
06:49 We need to save it and that's why I'm here as our Member of Parliament.
06:53 [BLANK_AUDIO]