Our history | Wellington Rubber Company

Timeline

1936

Wellington Rubber Company (WRC) was founded by Mr Henry Lawrence (Laurie) Birkett in 1936. The original business was the collection of used tyre casings that he sold to retreaders. In 1939 this business was seen as vital to the war effort and Wellington Rubber Company blossomed.

1960

By the early 60’s the market was changing so WRC decided to concentrate on waste rubber. This was mainly in the form of Buffings. (Buffings are generated when truck tyres are retreaded. The old tread is buffed off hence the term buffings). These buffings are then processed by sieving them into various fractions or are sold to other processors.

1999

In 1999 Mr David Birkett (son of Laurie) was considering his own retirement and Wellington Rubber Company was sold to J. Allcock & Sons, due to their success in processing rubber crumb since 1984 (see www.allcocks.co.uk).

2001

So that production and delivery could be more easily organised, and personnel could be rotated as needed, in 2001 Wellington Rubber Company (WRC) was relocated from its original Leeds site to Manchester, where it was placed alongside it’s parent company, J Allcock and Sons.

2015

By 2015, WRC had become so successful that it needed more space. Therefore, it was decided that the line would be moved out of the Textile Street Facility and onto an independent site on Wimpory Street, just down the road from J Allcock and Sons.

Andrew Rushton began working at J Allcock and Sons, where his father was Managing Director, in 1982, where he built up vast experience in the Rubber processing and crumb trade. By 1996, Mr Rushton had become MD of J Allcock and Sons, continuing to grow and expand the company. He was also instrumental in the purchase of WRC by J Allcock and Sons. Mr Rushton continues to use his vast experience to bring success to WRC as Managing Director, alongside Adrian, a fellow director of the company.

Adrian France has worked in the Rubber Recycling/Processing industry since he was 20 years old. He worked his way up through the ranks, eventually using his first-hand knowledge managing a rubber reprocessing company based in Stockport. In 2015 Adrian joined WRC as the works manager, helping with the move from Textile Street to Wimpory street and giving crucial advice in the layout and set up of the production line. His vital experience brought great success to WRC, so much so that he was appointed a director of the company in 2018. We are sure that Adrian will continue to grow and develop WRC into the future.

2019

Today WRC continues to be an industry leader in the processing of tyre tread buffings to the highest quality, gaining the internationally recognised ISO 9001 for quality which WRC has held for over a decade. WRC are always interested in new sources of Buffings and granules of all types.

Future

Due to the ongoing success of the company, we currently have plans to move again around 2020/2021.

David Birkett 1937-2018

David left Woodhouse Grove at 16 after his O Levels. He often and happily quoted one of his School reports which said ‘will work, when interested’. In later years he regretted not working harder at School but the reality was he was only really focused on going to work for Wellington Rubber Company, which his father Henry Birkett, or Laurie as he was called, had founded in 1936, one year before David was born. 81 years later – the age David would have been in April – the company still trades under this name and thrives. This is an amazing personal achievement, and one of which he was characteristically modest.

The original business was the collection of used tyre casings that he sold to retreaders. In 1939 this business was seen as vital to the war effort and Wellington Rubber Company blossomed. By the early 60s the market was changing so WRC decided to concentrate on waste rubber. This was recycling before recycling became the norm. Very innovative for its time.

The company continued to flourish down to David’s hard work – there was only really one summer holiday – and 6 days a week, working Saturday mornings was the norm. The factory was adjacent to Elland Road football club. David was always hands on, never back office, leading from the front: he had a heavy goods vehicle licence and fitted most of the tyres – a sideline to the main business before the likes of Kwikfit.

David had one job, for his whole life. Like all companies, Wellington needed to adapt to thrive, responding to change and competition. He made sure this happened, in the way that his father had too. David never moaned even when it was tough, and he enjoyed what he did.

After around 45 years, David was ready to enjoy retirement, and he sold the business to J Allcock & Sons in 1999- a family company too, that had existed even longer, since 1924. The business relocated to Manchester. David stayed on for a time in the role of consultant.

David was a true gentleman and the world will be a lesser place without him.