Fortnum's Rock

We Will (Fortnum's) Rock You

When you think of Rock, what’s the first thing that springs to mind? We’ll take a guess at… Blackpool? The British seaside? A moment of nostalgia as you think back to your younger years, a stick of rock in your hand that never seems to get any smaller? Yes, us too.

This summer, we’re celebrating the great British seaside and everything that comes with it - from sandwich stealing seagulls to classic Blackpool Rock – and as Fortnum’s has a tendency to never do things by halves, where imitation simply has no place, we worked with the skilled crafts people of Stanton & Novelty in Blackpool to create our very own Rock with ‘Fortnum’s Rock’ written through its minty core.

Whilst Blackpool Rock may feel like a classic confection that has always been there and always will be, sadly, that’s not the case – it’s a dying art due to a lack of skilled crafts people trained in rock making, and a petition has been organised to urge the government to give the confectionery protected status, to preserve the future of the iconic sweet and protect the heritage and tradition of this seaside icon.

During our time working with Stanton & Novelty, we caught up with David Thorp, who returned to help his father run the family business in 2017, having worked in the factory from the age of 12 during summer holidays and at weekends. 

‘Stanton & Novelty was started by my Grandad, William (Bill) Thorp and my Grandma, Edit in 1969. Bill passed the business to my Dad, Geoff, who has been working here for 40 years this summer, and my Mum, Jan, still works here too,’ explains David. It’s the very definition of a family-run business. Stantons is one of only eight remaining Rock factories in Blackpool, with that number reducing each year. 

David and his family have been using the same recipe ever since Stantons first opened its doors. And whilst David was happy to share the ingredients, the quantities of each are, of course, a closely guarded secret. And we’re thrilled that Fortnum’s Rock has been made using this very same recipe – using British ingredients and British craftsmanship.

To make a stick of rock, there is a precise method to follow. Once the ingredients are mixed to form a thick syrup, the mixture is then heated and boiled, cooled and flavoured, shaped and pulled before the fine art of lettering inside the rock happens. 

As David goes on to tell us, ‘there are only about 30 people left in the UK with skills to put the lettering into sticks of rock, and we have three of them – one is me and my Dad is another. It takes on average, five to six years to be able to confidently letter rock as every aspect of each stage needs to be done at exactly the right time, when the toffee is at the right temperature, and there is no way of telling when that is other than by feel. That’s why it takes so long to learn the skill. The quality and integrity of British confectionery is unparalleled, built upon generations of craftsmanship and expertise.’

Preserving the craft of rock making and lettering is of upmost importance to David and his family, with everything handmade and where ‘there’s not a machine out there that can replicate what we do. It’s a craft that’s passed down through generations. Every single member of staff we have now, at one point in time, one of their family members also worked at Stantons.’

Our Fortnum’s Rock stands resplendent in orange and red, using natural ingredients to create the hues. The orange was created using Paprika Extract and the red using fruit and vegetable extracts. And that oh-so familiar minty flavour is added at the puller, ‘where the toffee is split into two sections and put onto a machine with large rotating arms to aerate it and align the sugar crystals to make the centre of the stick white, allowing the flavour to be evenly distrubuted through every stick’ adds David.

Each week, Stantons team of 14 make a mighty 3,000 meters of Rock which is approximately 15,000 sticks. That’s no mean feat. David ends by saying ‘Blackpool Rock is intrinsically linked with the British Seaside and British Culture, everyone remembers a holiday to the seaside with their parents or their children, and it’s fantastic to see Fortnum & Mason promote our small piece of British heritage.’

The feeling is mutual, David – we’re extremely proud to be supporting the craft that has sat behind this much-loved confection for generations.