Code I32

A very wide enamel advertising sign for BARNES FOR LEATHER WOOD-MILNE RUBBER SOLES AND HEELS.

Vibrant and stunning red colour complimenting the black bold lettering. A statement piece of a sign.

Dimensions: W:195cm H: 35cm

Condition: Some damage to both ends and some rust spots from being outside doing its job, advertising.

HISTORY:

1896 Company established by T.H Roberts.

The Golden Hill Lane factory, Preston, was opened in Leyland by Wood Milne Rubber Company, which was owned by the Roberts family of Farington House.

They also took over the adjacent land, formerly known as Mr William Higham’s Hay and Straw Works. The hay and straw business provided the carting establishments with food and bedding for their horses. The raw material was purchased from local farmers and often the hay was chopped and steamed. The process producing a very strong yet not unpleasant smell, which filled the air along that part of Golden Hill Lane.

The variety of items made by the Wood Milne Company included rubber heels, soles and tips, pneumatic tyres and inner tubes for motor cars and motorcycles, solid band tyres for motor vehicles, belts for motor cycles, foot pumps for motor tyres and golf balls.

1907 Incorporated as a limited company: Wood Milne Rubber Company.

1914 Manufacturers of rubber heels, motor car and motorcycle tyres. Specialities: rubber heels, tips, pneumatic tyres, solid tyres, shoeshines, golf balls, footpumps for motor tyres and general rubber goods.

1919 Advertised solid band tyres, jointly with George Spencer, Moulton and Co

1922 Listed Exhibitor. Manufacturers of India Rubber Sports Balls; Golf Balls; Spenwood Rubber Tiling.

1924 Wood Milne Ltd was acquired by British Goodrich Rubber Co, a subsidiary of the American company, in order to manufacture the rubber goods in England.

1934 The parent company became the British Tyre and Rubber Co.

The name B.T.R. Industries came about in 1957 when the old B.T.R. (British Tyre and Rubber Co) ceased production of tyres and felt that the old name was inappropriate.

They moved into their new factory on Centurion Way, Farington in the same year, the Golden Hill factory surviving into the 1970s.