H. Forman and Son

H. Forman & Son

Industry	Food
Founder	Harry (Aaron) Forman
Headquarters	London, United Kingdom
Products	London Cure Smoked Salmon, smoked fish, cured fish
Website	www.formans.co.uk

H. Forman & Son is an artisan salmon smokehouse, located in London's East End on Fish Island, Hackney Wick. It is Britain’s oldest original salmon curer and one of the world’s oldest existing producers of smoked salmon.^[1]

History

Early years

Harry (Aaron) Forman arrived in east London from Odessa at the beginning of the 20th century. He pursued his trade of curing fish by importing salmon in barrels of brine from the Baltic. On discovering fresh Scottish salmon arriving in London at Billingsgate Fish Market, he developed the London Cure.^[2]

Harry Forman started the business in Stepney, London. Harry’s son Louis Forman took over the business and continued to run it into the 1960s after his father’s death. He relocated the business to Ridley Road and Marcel Forman superseded him.^[3]

Recent history

Fourth-generation Forman owner Lance Forman joined the business in 1994.^[4] He oversaw the company doubling in size in 1996, when it expanded into a neighboring property in Queen's Yard. The new and expanded factory suffered 60% damage from a fire in 1998 and the company continued to operate while rebuilding the premises.^[5] In October 2000, the newly refurbished factory was flooded under 3 ft of water when the nearby river River Lea overflowed. The company relocated the factory to Marshgate Lane, Stratford, completing the move in 2002.^[6]

2012 London Olympics compulsory purchase order

H. Forman & Son Headquarters, Fish Island, Hackney Wick, August 2015

In 2003, H. Forman & Son learned of London’s bid to host the 2012 Summer Olympics. The company would have to relocate following a Compulsory Purchase Order.^[7] Forman’s newly refurbished factory was located on land that was proposed to become the running track of the Olympic Stadium.^[8] This relocation was confirmed in July 2005 when London won the bid to host the 2012 Summer games.^[9]

Lance Forman founded the Marshgate Lane Business Group, which worked to ensure that 284 businesses facing relocation were fairly treated during the compulsory purchase process.^[10] H. Forman & Son was given two years to relocate the business by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA).^[11] A deal was struck with the authorities in 2006 when Lance Forman was asked by the ODA to withdraw from cross-examining the LOCOG chairman Sebastian Coe at a Land Tribunal court hearing.^[5]

In the same year, the business identified a new site on Fish Island, Hackney Wick.^[12] New premises were designed by Jones East 8 architects^[13] to resemble the shape of a darne of salmon, in pink.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, officially opened the finished smokehouse in 2009.^[14] The company's headquarters is the closest building (100m distant) to the stadium outside of the Olympic Park.^[6]

The premises includes the H. Forman & Son smokehouse and head office, Forman’s London restaurant,^[15] Forman’s Smokehouse Gallery and the Forman’s Fish Island venue.^[16]

The London Cure

The London Cure is H. Forman & Son’s trademark smoking process; it is a dry-curing process using only salt, no sugar, followed by a cold-smoking procedure using limited and controlled quantities of smoke, now produced by friction-burning oak logs.^[17] The fish is cured, carved, filleted and packaged by hand, following methods introduced by Harry Forman since 1905.^[18]

The Forman businesses

View from Forman's Fish Island Rooftop Terrace

Forman's London Restaurant

H. Forman & Son is also a parent company for four businesses which share its headquarters: Forman & Field, Forman's Fish Island and Forman's London restaurant and Forman's Smokehouse Gallery.^[19]

• Forman & Field was established in 2002. It is the online retail based arm of H. Forman & Son, specialising in British food which are made to order and sourced from small British producers, and selling H. Forman & Son's fish produce.
• Forman's London Restaurant, serves H. Forman & Son smoked fish alongside bespoke British dishes created by Executive Chef Lloyd Hardwick and a selection of British drinks.^[20] The restaurant hosted the BBC Celebrity MasterChef semi-finals in 2012.^[21]
• Forman’s Fish Island is an events venue which has the capacity for up to 1,000 people and includes a large events space overlooking the Olympic Park (also used as Forman’s Smokehouse Gallery) and a rooftop terrace.^[22]
• Hackney Wick is home to the highest concentration of creative practitioners and artist studios in Europe.^[23] Accordingly, H. Forman and Son’s Smokehouse Gallery exhibits a variety of artists every year.^[19]

Ahead of the 2012 London Olympics, Lance Forman purchased land adjacent to the headquarters to make way for the temporary Fish Island Riviera venue, which saw corporate parties and the public visiting the Olympics visiting during the course of the games.^[24]

In 2013, the brand expanded into the US market through Formans USA.

References

Salmon
Groups and species	Salmon Salmonidae Adriatic salmon Atlantic salmon Black Sea salmon Pacific salmon Chum salmon Chinook salmon Coho salmon Masu salmon Pink salmon Steelhead Sockeye salmon Taiwanese salmon Danube salmon Sabertooth salmon Genetically modified salmon
Fisheries and management	Aquaculture of salmon Fly fishing bibliography Environmental issues with salmon Old McKenzie Fish Hatchery Pre-spawn mortality in coho salmon Puget Sound salmon Putcher Putcher fishing Alaska salmon fishery Salmon conservation Salmon run June hogs
As food	Salmon as food Cured salmon Gravlax Lohikeitto Lomi salmon Lox Rui-be Salmon burger Salmon cannery Salmon tartare Smoked salmon Images
Diseases and parasites	Diseases and parasites in salmon Amoebic gill disease Ceratomyxa shasta Gyrodactylus salaris Henneguya zschokkei Infectious salmon anemia virus M74 syndrome Myxobolus cerebralis Nanophyetus salmincola Salmon louse Sea louse Salmon tapeworm Sphaerothecum destruens Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae
Organisations	Atlantic Salmon Federation Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization Pacific Salmon Commission Welsh Salmon and Trout Angling Association Wild Salmon Center Yakima Klickitat Fisheries Project
Other	Ceasg H. Forman and Son (salmon smokehouse) Salmon (color) Salmon of Knowledge Salmon Fishing in the Yemen The Salmon Fly