History
Many people ask why the company uses Laugharne Castle as part of its corporate identity?
Going back to a time at the end of WWII there was very little opportunity of employment in Les Parsons’s home town of Laugharne on the West Wales coast. Les returned home after having served in India in1947 to this quiet backwater community alongside the Taf estuary. It was about that time that the famous welsh poet Dylan Thomas was writing his works (which included Under Milk Wood) where Dylan had also written about the ‘web-footed cockle women of Laugharne’. The local productive shellfish beds had been a source of employment for local people for generations but the tasty molluscs at that time were only available on the coastal fringes of the U.K in a fresh form. People would generally sprinkle the fresh shellfish with vinegar to add flavour before eating them. Les recognised an opportunity to try bottling them in vinegar to preserve and extend the shelf-life of the product and so be able to sell cockles and mussels further afield. This led to the start of Parsons Pickles and being the success that it was, important employment was created for a number of people in this tranquil and beautiful part of West Wales.
The original factory was part of an old mill alongside the estuary within a stones throw of Laugharne Castle and the castle has been used ever since by the company as part of its corporate image. Sadly for Laugharne however, the company out-grew it’s founding home in 1954 and for commercial reasons was forced to move to a new location in Burry Port where it was able to broaden its range of products and where it has remained ever since.
Profile
Parsons Pickles produces a range of quality traditional pickles together with its popular and well established laverbread and shellfish products which you can buy online. The company has the distinction of being the only British manufacturer of pickled cockles and mussels with all other brands presently having to be imported.
The company employs 25 full time employees at its base in Burry Port and delivers its products direct to customers all over the UK and Ireland. These products are sold through a wide variety of outlets which range from some of the larger supermarkets to the local public house.
All production is carried out from its operating base at Burry Port which because of its shellfish processing activities operates to the high quality standards that it is expected to have for its EU Shellfish accreditation. The company also as part of its quality control procedures operates to British Retail Consortium Standards who are the leading authority on food safety accreditation and the premises is audited and inspected on a regular basis.
Modern technology plays an important part in the production of Parsons products which are produced using many of its authentic and original recipes ensuring the continuation of the company’s long standing reputation for quality and perfection.