Centuries celebrated

West Bromwich-based hardware supplier Kenrick is marking its 230-year anniversary.

Founder Archibald Kenrick established Kenrick in 1787. This year, the company also honours 190 years since Archibald’s son, Archibald Junior, joined the business, when the company became ‘Archibald Kenrick & Son’ – a name it is still known by today.

Steve Jones, managing director of Kenrick, said: “This is a really special year for our business as we celebrate a staggering 230 years since our founder went in to partnership with the buckle-maker Thomas Bolton. Archibald was a brave 27-year old entrepreneur and he set the business up for an extremely long heritage in the UK. The Kenrick family was well-known in the area and the company employed hundreds of local people. We still have a strong presence within the community and there are several landmarks named after our business, including the local park, Kenrick Park and the main road, Kenrick Way.”

Kenrick originally manufactured buckles and livery fittings from a 4,000 square yard site close to the Birmingham canal in West Bromwich. The company continually traded through both world wars and, during the Second World War, it even manufactured seven million hand grenades and 1.5 million 2-inch mortar bombs, to aid the war effort.

The company still manufactures from the same site and, for more than 100 years, has been supplying components for windows and doors.