Leeds's lost steel fabrication industry

somme1916 · Post by **somme1916** » Mon 20 Aug, 2012 11:49 pm

The discussions about the cranes on Boar Lane and business on Water Lane got me feeling a bit nostalgic.When I joined a steel supply company in Leeds back in the seventies,the market for all things steel was immense in Leeds and surrounding towns.On Water Lane,we dealt with A.N.Marr(industrial oven makers),A.Bush Eng(true ! Alan was a nice bloke and his lad Peter),Protier Lifting Gear amongst others.There were factories,workshops,units,yards all over the place which made it a happy hunting ground for us local guys.The big fabricators(buildings,schools,stadia etc) were:Geo.Depledge,Hunslet.S.W.Farmer,Cross Green.Ed.Bidgood,Long Causeway,Leo.Cooper,Hunslet(still trading).H.Newsome,Bramley(still trading) and others.Then you had R.O.F.(Vickers) Barnbow,M.E.C.,Stanningley(Morley Electric Motors),Yorks.Switchgear,Meanwood Rd.N.E.I.Clarke Chapman(Clyde Booth) Crane works,Rodley.Hunslet Engine Company.Robert Hudson railtrucks,Gildersome.Greenbats,(Greenwood&Batleys),Armley.G & W Eng,Cross Green(dennis wheatley r.i.p. & mike cowling).Crabtree Vickers(print machinery),Holbeck.Evans Universal,Armley.R.F.Winder,Stanningley(switchgear).Y.M.F.(Yorkshire Metal Fabs),Hunslet.Chas.H.Roe,Cross Gates(now Optare at Sherburn).Procter Bros(fencing),Stourton & Holbeck.Wellington Fabs(jack quinn),Kirkstall.A.Taylor,Kirkstall(still trading,also at Hunslet).Platt Longclose(textile machinery),Beeston.Archer Eng,Hunslet.Henry Berry Eng,Hunslet.Clayton,son & Co,Hunslet and Moor End(storage tanks/gasholders).Coghlan Bright Steel,Hunslet(bright steel re-rollers/producers).John King(chain & conveyors),Beeston.These are just a few of the bigger consumers-there were hundreds more.They've just about all gone now.We really don't make things big anymore in the local area,a scenario replicated all over the country no doubt.Yes,there are a few "survivors" and car companies(foreign owned) etc but nothing like on the scale that was normal until relatively recently.We really made some big stuff in Leeds at one point and led the world at various times in various markets.The demand was quite spectacular,matched only by the steel fabricators for the coalfields in South Yorks and the Wakefield district.The mines themselves,were huge steel consumers with massive central stores at places like Allerton Bywater,Birdwell(Barnsley) Shafton(Barnsley).When you think back,you just wonder where it all went in such a short space of time.I can't complain too much.I had 33 good years out of it all and got out at the right time.Apologies for the many companies not mentioned......the list is almost endless.

Leodian · Post by **Leodian** » Tue 21 Aug, 2012 12:22 am

That is extremely interesting somme1916. I bet you wish you had taken lots of photos now as I often do when I think of childhood places of mine (late 1940's to mid 1950's) that have long since gone and rarely photographed (if ever in some cases). Mind you, as a child I would not have thought about taking a camera when playing.

somme1916 · Post by **somme1916** » Tue 21 Aug, 2012 12:30 am

Leodian wrote: That is extremely interesting somme1916. I bet you wish you had taken lots of photos now as I often do when I think of childhood places of mine (late 1940's to mid 1950's) that have long since gone and rarely photographed (if ever in some cases). Mind you, as a child I would not have thought about taking a camera when playing. Cheers Leo,I keep popping in a couple more as they spring to mind.I remember taking some good photos of Claytons in Hunslet just prior to demolition.Great office building.On the wall in reception was a large wooden patterned plaque detailing all the long serving company employees.There were dozens of 25years,many 30-50 years and a handful of 60 years service ! Fascinating,it really was a "job for life" back then.Loyalty was a major factor back then.I think same applied at nearby Henry Berry's works which sadly I didn't capture on film.I often wonder what happened to that plaque.

jonleeds · Post by **jonleeds** » Tue 21 Aug, 2012 1:04 am

Talk like this almost makes you wanna top yersen. Historically Leeds was a city of many trades and flourished because of this. Sadly these areas of manufacturing where Leeds excelled have all been sold off to global corporations who relocate these industries to the developing world - India / China etc where labour costs / land / materials are cheaper and workers rights are virtually non-existent. The laugh of it is the so-called 'better' jobs that people in the city have 'upgraded' to - jobs in customer service / finance / IT + Telecommunications are also going the same way...! What a joke. The last place I worked as an IT Support Analyst we were, albeit via telephone and internet slowly watching our workforce being transferred to Bangalore! Thousands of employees for Lloyds Banking Group in Bristol all lost their jobs and the Leeds office was a virtual skeleton crew in comparison. Great news for shareholders profits in that our counterparts in India work for a fraction of the price, but very bad news for anyone working in the UK and paying off a mortgage / pension etc. I mean everywhere you look around Leeds are places that once were something - Kirkstall Forge, Yorkshire Chemicals, Sandoz Pharmaceuticals... its a long long depressing list, and these werent just low skilled manufacturing jobs I'm talking about, they were highly skilled professions that are now gone forever. The future looks bleak for many people, is it any wonder there are so many people on benefits? And now the coalition goverment is stripping away the welfare system blaming Labour for having 'wasted' billions on 'welfare'!! Absolutely shocking.

MWD · Post by **MWD** » Tue 21 Aug, 2012 11:03 am

I did my apprenticeship at A.Taylors on Weaver Street.I finished school on Friday, and started there the following monday morning.It proved to be an eye opening baptism of fire.First job - painting a diesel storage tank that was destined for the bus depot in Headingley.The tank was outside, stored under one of the viaduct arches.Halfway through the morning, the heavens opened, but I stuck at it, not wanting to appear soft in front of my new peers.Several months later I was painting the same tank again, in situ, in the bus garage.The original paint had bubbled and blisteted as a result of being applied in the rain. It was a hell of a place to learn your trade.The apprentices were subject to all sorts of character building pranks (I suppose it would be called bullying today), and health and safety was unheard of.Can you imagine a 16 year old operating a Coles mobile crane nowadays?Or slinging and turning huge fabrications using overhead cranes?Working at hieght without harnesses or hard hats was par for the course.Good times!

somme1916 · Post by **somme1916** » Tue 21 Aug, 2012 3:41 pm

MWD wrote: I did my apprenticeship at A.Taylors on Weaver Street.I finished school on Friday, and started there the following monday morning.It proved to be an eye opening baptism of fire.First job - painting a diesel storage tank that was destined for the bus depot in Headingley.The tank was outside, stored under one of the viaduct arches.Halfway through the morning, the heavens opened, but I stuck at it, not wanting to appear soft in front of my new peers.Several months later I was painting the same tank again, in situ, in the bus garage.The original paint had bubbled and blisteted as a result of being applied in the rain. It was a hell of a place to learn your trade.The apprentices were subject to all sorts of character building pranks (I suppose it would be called bullying today), and health and safety was unheard of.Can you imagine a 16 year old operating a Coles mobile crane nowadays?Or slinging and turning huge fabrications using overhead cranes?Working at hieght without harnesses or hard hats was par for the course.Good times! Oh Dear,know what you mean though.I used to clamber on piles of steel beams free stacked 12 foot high and work a gantry crane at height after climbing an open 40 foot ladder ! No hard hats etc in them days.I believe the boss at A.Taylor was Bill Benson and his son John was a manager too.Does that tally with your time back then ?

Jogon · Post by **Jogon** » Tue 21 Aug, 2012 4:22 pm

Don't forget Leonard Coopers (mentioned re Leeds United I think).There was a thread about 'made in Leeds' but can't find it. It was current not historic.

MWD · Post by **MWD** » Tue 21 Aug, 2012 8:20 pm

Your little outburst suggests you are the tetchy one Jogon In attempt to get back to the subject.......Yes, indeed it was the Bensons who were at the helm during my time there.They ran a tight ship, and kept many skilled men busy fabricating anything from irrigation reels, motorway gantrys, pressure vessels etc.The mainstay of the work though was well heads used in the offshore oil drilling industry.The old lads who had nothing to prove were the guys who passed on all their knowledge to the apprentices, whereas the younger blokes were more intent on making life hard for the apprentices.The work kept plenty of Leeds based firms busy :-The steel stock holders.Taylors themselves.Longs of Leeds (transport)Corrocoat.Austin HayesCameronsto name but a fewI left Taylors in the early 90's and went in search of more lucrative work, and now through a series of lucky breaks and concidences, have nothing to do with the trade, although thanks to being taught well can still remember how to develop cones, barrels etc.

somme1916 · Post by **somme1916** » Tue 21 Aug, 2012 9:29 pm

Jogon wrote: Don't forget Leonard Coopers (mentioned re Leeds United I think).MWD's getting tetchy... There was a thread about 'made in Leeds' but can't find it. It was current not historic. Coopers in the first post jogon.....they built the south stand at Headingley back in the 1920's I believe.(if not 30's).

raveydavey · Post by **raveydavey** » Tue 21 Aug, 2012 9:33 pm

At the risk of sounding like a right moaning old git, the vast majority of school / college leavers today aren't interested in spending any time learning a trade and definitely don't want to do anything that might involve getting their hands dirty... (I emphasise that is most, not all.)Although I now have a white collar job (profession, even according to some), my background is the motor trade so I understand many of the points above, but a lot of kids now think that the world owes them a living and they're only interested in sitting at a desk staring at a computer all day, something school seems to prepare them for all too well.Consequently the few remaining firms engaged in engineering (and I guess much of the motor trade falls into that category) tend to struggle to get candidates of the right quality.Lets hope the new plans to get the more 'hands on' kids into training rather than forcing them to stay at school, start to pay dividends while we have a few companies left that still make or maintain stuff. Protier are still going, they're up at Pudsey: http://www.protier.co.uk/