Hastings Loses a Lens Legend

Hastings Loses a Lens Legend

A fond farewell to Madden and Layman, the much-loved RGP lens name whose Hastings story is set to close as Bausch + Lomb consolidates production in France.

For many in the optical world, Madden and Layman has never been just another name on an order form. It has been a familiar voice at the end of the phone, a trusted RGP solution when a case needed careful thought, and one of those quietly dependable brands that helped practitioners get patients seeing well when the easy option was not quite good enough.

Now, after many years of specialist lens manufacturing in Hastings, that chapter is drawing to a close. Bausch + Lomb has confirmed that its Hastings manufacturing facility is expected to close in early 2027, following the company’s acquisition of Laboratoire Precilens, the specialty contact lens manufacturer based in Créteil, France. The move forms part of a wider strategy to consolidate European specialty lens manufacturing at a single French site.

For practitioners who have fitted RGPs through several generations of materials, designs and ordering systems, the Madden and Layman name carries a certain affection. It belongs to that part of optics where knowledge is practical, patient-specific and occasionally rescued by someone in the laboratory who knows exactly what you mean when you say, “It’s nearly right, but not quite.”

There is, of course, a business rationale. Bausch + Lomb says the combination of its global eye health expertise with Precilens’ specialty lens knowledge represents continued investment in specialty vision care. The company has also said that sales representatives, customer service and technical consultation contacts, pricing, commercial terms, agreements and existing ordering channels will not be affected by the consolidation.

Once the transition is complete, products will be manufactured in France and distributed through Bausch + Lomb’s European distribution centre in Schiphol, The Netherlands. The company has stated that it will manage customs and logistics processes, with no additional cost or administrative burden to customers.

But for the people who knew Hastings as more than a postcode on a delivery label, this will still feel like the end of an era. Specialty lens work has always had a craft element to it: a mixture of calculation, experience, patience and the occasional cup of tea while another curve is reconsidered. Madden and Layman’s place in that tradition deserves more than a footnote.

The hope, naturally, is that continuity for practitioners and patients will be as smooth as promised, and that the expertise built around these lenses continues to be valued as production moves across the Channel. France may be gaining the manufacturing, but Hastings leaves behind a legacy that many in the profession will recognise with a smile, a nod and perhaps a slightly nostalgic rummage through old fitting sets.

So here’s to Madden and Layman: to the lab teams, consultants, customer service staff and practitioners who helped make the brand part of everyday specialty lens practice. In a world that often talks about innovation in grand terms, it is worth remembering the smaller, skilled acts that made a real difference one patient, one cornea and one carefully judged RGP at a time.