Looking to the future: the world-class Chorley soap company which survived the Russian Revolution, the Nazis, and Covid-19

Founded in 1893 in Minsk, Belarus as ‘The Victoria Fine Soap Works’, the company was forced to relocate to Berlin in the 1920s due to the Bolshevik uprising before, barely 15 years later, being forced to move again because of the rise if of the Nazis. Thankfully, they found a more permanent home in Chorley.

Now a manufacturer of world-class soaps, Droyt makes products for a global market of supermarkets, retailers, and independent customers. Using the best vegetable and mineral ingredients, they offer everything from traditional and liquid soaps to shampoo bars and vegan products.

“We make all our soap from scratch, which is quite unusual these days,” says Director Alistair McCracken, who joined the company in 1991. “We manufacture, process and cut the soap, stamp it, and then package it.

“When Covid hit, my first thought was ‘how are we going to make it,” he adds. “There was extra demand, but all non-food retailers shut, so our only customer was Waitrose. I was also worried about getting raw materials - everybody suddenly wanted things like alcohol, which we use in soap, for hand sanitiser.

“We limped along because we had a lot of stock but, after a few months, orders stopped coming in because everybody had bought as much soap as they could use, so we furloughed everyone but a skeleton crew,” Alistair, 63, from Scotland, continues. “Government funding really helped - it was a tricky time.”

In March 2020, Rachelle Bell was considering opening an eco-shop with Green Living Chorley, a green community group which she helped found with her friend Emma Kilburn, but the impact of Covid scuppered her plans. Having been in touch with Droyt about products already, she decided to reach out again.