Bestseller
The Ancoats
The one most of Manchester learned in. Wide seal, four nose bridges in the box, and a strap you can adjust with wet hands.
£14.00Details
Trafford Park, Manchester · Est. 1962
Every pair starts as a puddle of resin.
We have been pressing, tinting and testing swimming goggles on the same stretch of the Bridgewater Canal for over sixty years. Come and watch us do it — then build a pair of your own to take home.
1962Year one
21mPairs made
4.9Tour rating
34People here
Made in Manchester 🇩🇩 since 1962
1
Moulded here, not shipped here
Lens blanks go into the press at one end of Shed B and come out as finished goggles at the other. Nothing crosses an ocean on the way.
2
Clearcoat 3 anti-fog
Our own anti-fog recipe, first mixed in a bucket in 1971 and improved eleven times since. It is baked in, not sprayed on, so it does not wash off.
3
Two-year seal guarantee
If the silicone seal on your Otterwells perishes, splits or stops sealing within two years, post them back and we will re-gasket them for nothing.
The range
Six pairs. That is the whole catalogue.
We would rather make six good goggles than sixty average ones. Every pair below is pressed, tinted, sealed and tested in Trafford Park.
Kids
The Ripple Junior
A smaller frame with a chunky buckle that small fingers can actually work. Comes with a name label you can bite into the strap.
£11.00Details
Race day
The Mercury Racer
Sits almost flat in the eye socket so it will not drag off the blocks. Smoked lens for indoor pools with harsh lighting.
£28.00Details
Open water
The Long Course
A big amber lens that lifts a grey Manchester morning and lets you spot a buoy from three hundred metres out.
£32.00Details
Factory tours · £16
Come and see where they come from.
Seventy-five minutes on the factory floor with someone who actually works here. You will see a lens go from a warm disc of resin to a finished pair — and then you will make a pair yourself, in whatever colour you like, and walk out wearing them.
- Every Saturday and Sunday at 10:00am, 12:00pm and 2:00pm
- £16 a person. Under-5s come free
- You keep the goggles you build — that is a £14 pair, included
- Small groups. Sixteen people, never more
- Good for ages 5 and up. Buggies fine, the whole route is flat
How a pair is made
Resin in on Monday. Goggles out on Thursday.
What visitors say
4.9 out of 5, from 1,284 tours
★★★★★
“Took both boys on a wet Sunday expecting to be bored. Ended up staying for the whole thing and buying two extra pairs in the shop. The tank bit had them completely silent, which never happens.”
JD
Jonathan D.Chorlton · June
★★★★★
“My daughter picked purple straps with a green buckle and has not taken them off since, including at breakfast. Worth £16 of anybody’s money.”
PR
Priya R.Sale · July
★★★★★
“I have swum in Otterwells for thirty years and never once thought about where they came from. Turns out it is a shed twenty minutes from my house. Brilliant morning.”
MA
Marie A.Stockport · May
Sunday 6th September has two places left.
The 12:00pm tour is nearly full. Places are held for ten minutes while you finish booking.
Book the 12:00pm tour — £16