When Charlotte Dawe and Angus Cowen went shopping during the first Covid lockdown, they noticed something surprising. The supermarket shelves were full of tinned fish, yet almost none of it had been canned in England or made using British seafood.
Six years later, the couple are building one of the country’s few craft canneries in Bridport, producing premium conservas that celebrate British fish and shellfish while creating jobs and supporting sustainable fishing.
Sea Sisters has secured a further £78,600 through the British Business Bank’s Start Up Loans programme, delivered by SWIG Finance. The funding will help the company continue expanding after a period of rapid growth that has already seen it establish its own cannery, broaden its range and create 15 jobs.
The business began around the family’s own kitchen table. Both Charlotte and Angus had been working in hospitality when the pandemic brought the industry to a standstill. With two young daughters at home, their fortnightly shopping trips prompted a simple question: why wasn’t Britain’s own seafood being preserved in Britain?
The answer became Sea Sisters.
Named after their daughters, the business began by learning the traditional craft of preserving seafood from scratch. Early production took place in a micro-cannery in Hackney, proving there was a market for high-quality British conservas before the company relocated to Bridport to establish a permanent home.
Today the range includes Cornish sardines, Welsh cockles, Norfolk whelks and oak-smoked rainbow trout, all prepared by hand in small batches using recipes inspired by ingredient-led cooking.
For Angus, formerly a chef at London’s Trullo and Rochelle Canteen, provenance has always been as important as flavour.
‘From the beginning we wanted to celebrate British seafood and create something that combined traditional preservation techniques with modern flavours and clear provenance,’ he said. Sea Sisters sources seafood from low-impact fisheries, works with abundant fish stocks and British aquaculture producers, and uses plastic-free, fully recyclable packaging throughout its range. The business also champions smaller-scale fishing operations, including women working within the industry.
The latest investment builds on two original Start Up Loans of £25,000 received shortly after the business launched. Having repaid part of those loans, the founders were able to access a further £28,600 through the programme’s second-loan scheme, providing additional capital as demand has grown.
‘It has been a huge journey building a craft cannery and developing our own range of conservas here in Dorset,’ Angus said. ‘The support from Start Up Loans and SWIG Finance has been a vital part of that.’
From an idea born during lockdown to a growing food manufacturer rooted in Bridport, Sea Sisters has found a niche by combining traditional preservation techniques with modern tastes — and by proving that Britain’s own seafood deserves a place back on British shelves.
seasisters.co.uk
The Dorset Life Business News section is sponsored by
Beeson & Beeson
