Rishy Crisps was founded in the 1950s in Lancashire. The company moved into a former woollen mill in Great Harwood in the early 1960s. It was later acquired by another Lancashire snacks company, Burtons.
There was possibly a factory fire some time in the 1960s:
“I remember a big fire there in the 1960’s, the floor was covered in hot oil, it ruined our fire boots which were made of leather, after that the brigade changed to a thick soled rubber boot with a steel toe protector.”
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Rishy Crisps became known for XL Crisps which were hugely popular in the North of England and Scotland for a time. The XL brand was revived in the 1980s, but just two years later, in 1986, all but two of the staff at the Great Harwood factory were made redundant and the factory ceased production.
Museum of Crisps 
XL Cheese Crisps still going.
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They used to sell bags of xl cheese crisps at Darwen Baths. Can we still get them? They were the best I have ever tasted.
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Yes, you can still buy them, only now they are part of the Golden Wonder group. They were very popular in the NW. During the 1950s I can remember sitting in a pub car park in the Lake District and being supplied with Rishy XL cheese flavoured crisps. These crisps ever.
Still available by the box on ebay and amazon
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Yes, you can still buy them, only now they are part of the Golden Wonder group. They were very popular in the NW. During the 1950s I can remember sitting in a pub car park in the Lake District and being supplied with Rishy XL cheese flavoured crisps. These crisps the best ever.
Still available by the box on ebay and amazon
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Most shops and pubs in and around Carlisle stock these, as far as I’m aware they’ve never been off the shelves and are still among the most common empty bags seen blowing across the street.
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Rishy crisps cheese flavour were the best ever, had them all the time in the fifty. Our local shop sold out they were great 👍.
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Anything to do with the Prime Ministers family ?
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Remember working as a Contractor at their factory in the early 80’s. Some knob in procurement cocked up by buying inferior potatoes and Rishy lost the Marks and Spencer contract. We got laid off in favour of Rishy’s own fitters team. They had a great canteen too. Its a shame one pillock cost them so dearly
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I remember rushy crisp being across from my school in Great Harwood and smoke coming out of the chimlies. I went to the Western County infants and the primary school next door. I loved their crisp the one with the small packet of salt and prawn cocktail happy memories
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my father was sales manager of rishy crisps which became xl crisps and i still have photos of me and mum n dad at conventions selling our crisps product inc burton’s biscuits etc~i rmbr the red arrows flying over~there’s even my dad’s rep car a ford cortina brown estate~i was about 4 or 5 yrs old~happy days~sadly xl crisps ended in the form they were known back then and my dad made redundant in 1986
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also the company my dad was sales manager for (xl crisps~part of burton’s food division) invented hedgehog crisps~yep those ones~they tasted weird but i kinda liked them and yep they did taste of hedgehog although i’ve never actually tried hedgehog~i still have a hedgehog crisp badges and baseball cap
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The entire potted history of XL crisps – from 1949 to 2023 – was covered recently on the Facebook page Crazy Bout Crisps. Part one here >> https://www.facebook.com/crazyboutcrisps/posts/pfbid02jf2bJtWceF9XPtRtvPz7y7HotwDTG2fUTfhBEfpApxEF1pLSgKExMDeX1Dc6NNCgl <<
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Fantastic! I’ll take a look
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As an A level student,in the 70s worked on all sections of The Rishton production line in the school holidays..Noisy..First ever pay packet blasted on some flairs and a velvet jacket
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Excellent! And love the fashion choices 😉
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Rishy crisps were sold in the refreshment booths at Hyde United’s football ground, if I remember correctly the cost was 2d per bag whereas Smith’s crisps were 3d.
I think it was in the late 1940’s.
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