Blackburn e-cig firm expands with new premises

A Blackburn-based business which manufactures liquids for the e-cigarette industry has purchased new premises to support its expansion plans.

Flavour Warehouse, which makes and sells its products under the Vampire Vape brand, has acquired a production facility on Shadsworth Business Park giving it more manufacturing space and additional room to grow into.

The company has witnessed rapid growth since being founded by Phil Boyle and Nathan Walton in 2013 and now employs 30 staff. While supplying mainly to wholesalers, the business also has three of its own retail shops in Lancashire and Manchester, selling e-liquids, e-cigarette kits and accessories.

The pair decided to start manufacturing their own e-liquids after encountering problems with many of the products they were importing from abroad.

The company’s growth has been driven largely by smokers looking to so-called ‘vaping’ an alternative to traditional cigarettes. Public Health England reported in 2015 that e-cigarettes are 95 per cent less harmful than smoking.

Phil Boyle, director of Flavour Warehouse, said: “We were initially importing our e-liquids, but we found many of these were below par and when there were problems with quality it was almost impossible to get these problems rectified.

“We turned to the UK so we could have total control over what we created and sold. Over the past three years we had moved facilities three times, outgrowing each within a few months. We wanted to purchase our own building so we could spec it out exactly how we wanted and also have the extra room to support us as we continue to grow.”

Phil and Nathan, both from Blackburn, have built up a network of ‘vapers’ and vape shop owners to continually review their products and test new creations.

Nathan adds: “We now have two bespoke and fully-automated production line machines capable of producing 100,000 bottles of e-liquid per day and operating around the clock. We also have a state-of-the-art cleanroom so we can manufacture in a pharmaceutical grade environment.”

Phil and Nathan were advised on the purchase of the property, situated in Sett End Road North, by the commercial property team at Harrison Drury solicitors. Simon England, a director at Harrison Drury, said: “Phil and Nathan have done well because they’ve had a clear strategy for growing the business and a determination to invest in the latest technology. Purchasing these new premises has allowed them to plan for future growth in this fast-moving industry.”