Skip to content 60 Years Strong: Celebrating Universal Wolf’s 60th Anniversary
8 October 2024
In 2024, we’re celebrating Universal Wolf’s 60th anniversary. The Tharsus Welding & Sheet Metal Company – as the business was originally known – was established on the banks of the river Tyne in 1964.
In September, we brought our colleagues together for a morning of breakfast butties, coffee, cake and reflection. We were also delighted to welcome two of the three original founders of the business, to celebrate this milestone with us.
Read about our company history and how we came to be the business we are today…
“Do you want to work for someone else for the rest of your life?”
Three friends and sheet metal workers from the nearby Reyrolle business – John, Austin and Stan – decided they’d had enough of working for other people and branched out on their own. They each put in £300 to buy a small prefab building in Hebburn. At first, their turnover was mostly spillover work from Reyrolle, but gradually their reputation and order book grew. In 1967, they opened their own factory in the shadow of their former employer.
The three friends continued to grow the business until, in the late nineties, they sold it to our owner Brian Palmer. Brian took the helm in 1998 and from that point we have continued to grow, adapt and diversify.
Putting down roots in Blyth
In 2013, in need of more space, we took on our Spencer Road facility on Blyth Riverside Business Park. We relocated to Blyth permanently in 2014 and took on our second facility – on Cowley Road – in 2019.
A vast product portfolio
As you can imagine, our product portfolio has changed somewhat since the early days!
We’ve partnered with many different companies over the years. In the early 2000s, we played an instrumental part in the rollout of BT’s 21st Century Network – providing overhead cable management systems which could cope with their upgrade activity. Today, we work with companies who operate in a variety of sectors, including industrial machinery manufacturers and commercial vehicle giants.
Over 1,000 collective years of service
The products we make may have changed over the years, but one thing which has stayed consistent is the skill and passion of our colleagues.
We’ve got a fantastic variety of years’ service among our pack, from our newest apprentices to colleagues who have been with us for more than 50 years. This means we have a great mix of time-served skill and new technology, which we use to deliver efficient and accurate sheet metal fabrication for our customers.
The total collective years of service for all our colleagues is 1,117 – an impressive number, if we do say so ourselves!
Standing strong on 60 years of heritage
As we celebrate Universal Wolf’s 60th anniversary, we’ve been reflecting on all the changes we’ve seen over the last six decades.
Five recessions, fourteen Prime Ministers, the creation of the Internet, a global pandemic… our business has adapted to, reacted to and learned from these events, and many more.
Our customers value the knowledge and expertise we bring to the table. Over the course of our history, we’ve learned a thing or two about de-risking the procurement process, resolving product challenges and fabricating superior metalwork.
Curious about our capabilities?
Take a look at our ‘What We Do’ pages and learn more.
Fill in our ‘Contact Us’ form and a member of the team will get in touch with you.
