Mills Advertising

Studio Print Ltd, a very successful long established printing company, has trebled in size overnight by taking over the rest of the 20,500sq ft factory on Kirkleatham Business Park, near Redcar, east Cleveland.

Two thirds of the factory in Tralee Close, was left empty in May after Theakston Print went into liquidation - but the building’s chequered history also includes the collapse of Jordison Print in 2005 and again in 2006 after a failed attempt by a former employee to revive the 160-year-old company.

Studio Print’s move has already created two new jobs at the family-run firm, while two other printers - both former Theakston employees - have been given temporary contracts with a view to making the posts permanent.

And managing director Eddie Holder is confident of further expansion after acquiring a large format five-colour Litho press left behind by Theakston enabling it to print items as big as 60in by 40in.

“We were saddened by the collapse of Theakston’s, and the earlier loss of Jordison’s which was a big name in printing for about 160 years,” says Mr Holder, who runs Studio Print with daughter Karen Roper, “but we’re not at all superstitious about taking over the factory because ours is a very different business strategy, we have built up a reputation for high quality and fast turnaround in printing and have successfully built up contracts with customers throughout the UK.

“We now have the capability to print items from business cards to large billboards, and everything in between, including point of sale and high-quality packaging materials. It’s a well-worn cliché, but overnight we’ve become a one-stop-shop for printing and that, coupled with a loyal customer base, gives us good reason to be very optimistic about the future.”

Studio Print, which employs 15 people, has been established for 35 years and has operated very successfully from a 7,000sq ft unit in Tralee Close.

The firm already has a state-of-the-art suite of digital and Litho printing presses and, as well as acquiring Theakston’s Litho presses, has since installed yet another large format digital press enabling it to add one off large format printing on various substrates.

When Jordisons went into liquidation a second time in 2006, another former employee, Mick Theakston, bought the assets, took on the six staff and rebranded the company Theakston Print. With the help of an £80,000 investment to buy equipment from Corus-subsidiary UK Steel Enterprise at the start of the year, he looked set to make a success of the business until the effects of the recession took its toll.

For further information contact Eddie Holder on 01642 776040.

View PDF