We may have a new website but our cordials are still as fantastic as they have always been!
At Mr Fitzpatrick’s we are as passionate as ever about our cordials and whilst many of our recipes owe their origins to the original Mr Fitzpatrick’s herbalists, we have stayed true to those traditions whilst expanding and developing our range of exciting and quirky cordials. It gives us great pleasure that we are able to maintain this tradition and introduce these wonderful drinks to a whole new generation. All our vintage cordials are still produced today in the time honoured tradition of botanically brewing only the finest natural ingredients and of course credit must go to our wonderful and creative team who make the impossible possible.
But where did we begin? The temperance movement began in Preston in 1835 during the period of the Industrial Revolution and was a response to the widespread alcoholism that existed at that time. The availability of cheap ale and gin had been responsible for the breakdown of family life and industrial productivity amongst the working classes. Prohibition was never legalised here but non alcoholic bars began to appear in every town and village to promote abstinence from ‘the demon drink’.
It was a Methodist cheese maker born in Preston, who set about establishing a society under which a pledge of sobriety was taken. The society grew and expanded beyond the churches to become part of every day life for the now sober British. Temperance Bars had become the new social scene. By the 1890’s temperance bars graced every high street the most prominent being Mr Fitzpatricks – a successful family of Dublin herbalists who established themselves in the North of England and at their peak successfully ran over 40 shops in the region.
After World War II interest in taking the pledge faded. The end of prohibition in the United States and the heavy importation of sweet, sugary drinks hitting our shores, saw the decline of the Temperance Bar. However, one Temperance Bar survived and today Mr Fitzpatrick’s still own and operate the little Victorian bar situated in the Lancashire town of Rawtenstall.
