Nolan Seafood Group

Nolans began as an idea in someone's head. In this case, the head belonged to Harry Joseph Nolan, in 1912. He was working part-time as a fish salesman in the Belfast fish market, when he was offered a job as a customs and excise officer in Northern Ireland.He enjoyed the fish business so much that he decided not to accept the job offer but instead to use his knowledge and experience to set up on his own. That choice led to the growth of a business that covers three generations of Nolans history; having passed to Vincent Nolan and then to his son in turn George Nolan, our present chairman. Today that idea in Harry Joseph Nolans head has resulted in a successful family business which employs almost 300 people in Ireland and Scotland with a turnover of over €30 million. In 2002 George Nolan turned his attention to Scotland – another home with a great tradition for Salmon and like Ireland - well renowned for its unique natural environment, clean waters and fresh Atlantic air. George acquired controlling interests in a number of bespoke salmon smokers and today he is the founder of a primary processing plant on an eight acre site employing over 230 workers in Aberdeen. From here they ship on a weekly basis to customers through Europe, the Middle East and the USA. Today Nolans' Dublin produce over 500,000 kg of smoked salmon; Conventional, Wild and Organic. The uniqueness of our salmon lies in the curing method, which has been developed over the last century we have been in business. It's a slow traditional method using salt and raw cane sugar. To this day it is still applied by hand and the fish are left to cure for anywhere from 24 hours to 48 hours for a larger fish. They are eventually smoked with a mixture of beech and oak chippings creating that rich smoky flavour.