Where have all the Factories Gone

[toolrunner23]

Having lived in Canada now for over 40 years I was wondering where are or what has happened to some of the company?s I used to work for in Warrington.

 

Associated Perforators & Weavers also known as Locker?s, they used to be on Church Street. This was the first company I worked for after leaving school.

 

The British Aluminium Company, they used to be right behind Bank Quay Train Station.

 

Richmond?s Gas Stove Company, they used to be at Grappenhall, right where the Lock?s are on the Manchester Ship Canal.

 

Tennants Industries, they used to be just off Longshaw Street at Bewsey, they manufactured clay gas fire elements.

 

Would be interesting to know if they are still around, Changed Names, or like many companies in this day and age, don?t exist anymore.

 

John Stringfellow

[Sue Durnim]

Where have all the factories gone?......Asia and East Europe!

[Paul Kennedy]

China specifically. I notice they have just bought Volvo off Ford. The irony is that they are lending the UK vast amounts of money....so that we can then buy goods from them.

[Evil Sid]

had a quick look on the web.

 

lockers is quite a big firm looking at their website. i pulled up a listing for them in farrel street on yell and locker airmaze took over the old dallam railway sheds. my mother worked there for a few years making air filters.

 

not sure about british aluminium company but think that my grandfather worked there in the 50's and 60's.

 

richmonds club still exists and there seems to be plenty of places selling richmond stoves and gas cookers.

 

tennants was another place that my mother worked, her job was picking the small bits of excess clay out of the elements. she used a crochet hook as it was the best tool to get at some of the harder to reach places.we were never short of elements for the gas fire when she worked there.

 

she still lives in the same street which is close to where both tennants and lockers airmaze are. one of the reasons she worked ta both places as she could walk to work in five minutes.

[Peter T]

They have ALL gone. The Latchford British Aluminium still exists. Crosfields, Levers and Laportes are still in Warrington although under different names and owners.

I think that is all the industry that is left in Warrington.

[Wingnut]

I think it was one of the design engineers from Richmond Stoves that came up with the idea of a bag free vacume cleaner which later became known as Dyson. He certainly cleaned up with that one.

 

At the time he asked a friend of mine to go in with him. The friend declined as he said it would never catch on.

[observer]

Oh the joys of capitalism and free trade!

[byrdy]

Richmond?s Gas Stove Company, they used to be at Grappenhall

Latchford not Grappenhall.Peter Stubs still going but now called Erasteel-Stubs(French owned).

[toolrunner23]

I would agree with you that Richmonds were (are) in Latchford and the Locks are in Latchford, but Richmonds always refered to themselves as Grappenhall Works on the letterheads.

They were called Richmonds back in the 60s, also Radiation Company, then I think the name was changed to NewWorld, what are they called today if they are still in Warrington.

 

John Stringfellow

[Peter T]

Richmonds have gone and are replaced by apartments. From Latchford swing bridge to the British Aluminium, there is new housing.

[Sue Durnim]

What happened to Rylands?

 

After selling their land to Sainsbury's and for housing development, did thay move out of the area or abroad, are they still in existence, did they get taken over or closed down?

[byrdy]

What happened to Rylands?

Finished,caput,like most of the large Warrington factories.

[observer]

Corus took them over, now they've gone - to the lands of cheap labour.

[toolrunner23]

Evil Sid, I worked for Tenants (Tennants) from 1971 to 1973 in the Toolroom, we made the Cast Iron Molds that made the clay elements that your mother used to make and pick. I think the manager of the company at that time was Douglas Leadson; it seemed to be a thriving business when I left. Do you or your mother remember what year the plant closed and did it continue to maintain its name Tenants (Tennants) or did it change names at one point.

I did look at the Lockers web site and yes they seem to be doing well, with company?s spread out all over the world. It would seem that the Warrington Company has been reduced in size over the years, back in the 60s there would have been over 600 people working for them in Warrington.

[Sue Durnim]

What ever happened to Coventry Climax or Rubery Owen?

It seems that Warrington is now a distribution and warehouse centre.

[byrdy]

What ever happened to Coventry Climax or Rubery Owen

Worked at Rubery Owens for 20 years till it closed in 1985.The 3 firms that were on that site-Rubery Owens,Conveyancer & Electro Hydraulics,employed well over 3,000 people between them,all gone alas.

[harry hayes]

Playing part devils advocate, Warrington doesn't appear to be doing too badly.

 

Some wonderful firms mentioned already but there were plenty of hell-holes - even Rylands at one time. Crosfields wasn't all that wonderful in the manufacturing parts. Monks hall; tanneries; bone works.

 

Happy days

[toolrunner23]

Add another one to the list, how about Greenings at Bewsey, my wife worked there in 1971, last time we were over there in 1999 it had closed down. Is this a shame on the Western World that we cant produce anymore, or we can but at a much higher price.

[Evil Sid]

will ask my mother about tennants when i next see her.

 

Greenings has now gone and is a housing estate or at least mostly a housing estate. my father worked there as a weaver for many years and as transport charge hand. my sister did a stint there for a while and my brother used to work for C R Transport who did a lot of the haulage for them.

[Sue Durnim]

What was the firm that was in Green Lane, near to Padgate Train Station, was it called Monks? I know that it is now a housing estate,

come to think about it, may be that is WBC's idea all along, knock down factories, build more houses, get more council tax...just a thought?

[harry hayes]

Arthur Monk and co, Sue. He used to have a race-horse called quiver the second. It was pretty good class and seemed to win whenever he circulated a tip. Happy days indeed.

 

Happy days

[Bill]

I served my apprenticeship as a toolmaker at a firm called Wilkinson?s Tools on Kerfoot Street which manufactured pliers of all shapes and sizes.

 

In 1972 the MD called me into his office to show me a new pair of pliers. He explained to me that they were made in the Far East and that he?d bought them from Woolworth for less than it was costing the company to forge the basic metal shape of our pliers.

 

Within a couple of years, the company that had been going for nearly a hundred years had completely closed down.

 

Bill

[Peter T]

Must have been paying the toolmakers too much.

[Sue Durnim]

What ever happen to 'Castle Rubber' they were situated by the River Mersey by Farmers United where the retail park is now?

[observer]

Another industry that didn't bounce back! If we commit to a global free market economy, as sure as eggs is eggs, industry will gravitate towards the cheapest labour markets, in order to make goods competitive, so that we can go to the shops and buy cheaper goods - but in order to spend, we need to earn - so a bit of a catch 22!