I was born on a small sheep farm in Penruddock, a small farming community near Penrith in Cumbria. I can still remember the thrill of plucking such beautiful fish from the water, and the extra excitement of escaping the attentions of the river bailiff. Even then I knew every salmon was precious and should not be wasted. I soon taught myself to cure and smoke the fish, just as people had been doing for centuries. When I left school, at 15 and a half, it was a natural step to turn my passion into a fledgling business. In 1984 I opened Grants in Maryport with a friend, assisted by £12,000 from Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government, which was trying to boost the local economy.
I was taught the finer arts of smoking by Master Smoker Roy Martin from Gretna and there we were, tiny premises, no cash and not much of a clue about business. We started out smoking and hand slicing individual fish and delivering them to local hotels. Fish by fish, mile by mile, we built the business till today, 40 years later here we are!
Jonathan Brown
CEO and Founder
