Louis France

September 1939 may not have been the ideal time to set up in business, with war clouds hanging over Europe but Louis France overcame that hurdle and the company is looking forward in 2009 to celebrating 70 years in business.

The company's story begins when Louis France, then a director of rubber suppliers E Hallowell Carter decided to go it alone.

He took with him a young warehouseman, Jack Shaw, and they established a company in Upperhead Mills near to Huddersfield Town centre, Jack was later to become a director of the company.

When he decided to set up his own company, took the main agency for Rainbow Belting, manufactured by the Dominion Rubber Company of Canada and used for driving machinery in the dyehouses of local textile mills.

But in the dark days of war the company also filled an essential need, supplying steel helmets and firefighting equipment to the textile trade.

The business began to grow and Louis France took on another warehouseman Joe Taylor.

Sadly in 1953 Louis France died aged 59 and Mr Taylor and Mr Shaw were given the option to buy the company. They managed to purchase the company but it was a difficult time having to pay for it over a period of years with the profits.

The company went from strength to strength supplying both the textile and engineering trades.

In 1970 Mr Taylor's son Graham  joined the company, straight from school and like his father, started in the warehouse sweeping up and making tea at just £ 7 per week.

He worked in the warehouse for three years before going out selling with the company's salesman Fred Schofield.

After nearly a year of learning the business, Graham was given an area of his own and on Fred's retirement in 1982, Graham took charge of the company's entire sales operation.

The Louis France story took a new turn in 1982, thanks to the weather!

Graham went to Scotland to do a bit of business and take a holiday but the weather was so bad he decided to work for the whole week seeing companies in the area.

It was a time when many textile mills in West Yorkshire were closing down but at the same time those in Scotland were booming.

Many of the contacts from the Huddersfield area had moved up to the Borders where there was more work and quite a lot of business was picked up. Many of the contacts complained that there was no local supplier for the equipment they required they had to go to either Carlisle, Glasgow, Edinburgh or Newcastle.

The decision was made to open an office in Selkirk, right in the heart of the Scottish Borders and close to all their major customers.

Even during the recession in the 1970s Louis France continued to fare well, having to go on short time for just one week. The Health and Safety Act had just been introduced and there was a big market for protective clothing and personal safety equipment. It was a natural progression to get into that sort of market.

With the decline in the textile business and most of the manufacturing business going abroad, the company has had to diversify and has now a product range that goes right from the basic janitorial equipment to high tech speciality products.

The market is very competitive, but what gives Louis France the edge over the competition is the personal service given and the fact that only high-quality goods are supplied.

Joe Taylor retired in 1989 leaving son Graham taking over the reins as Managing Director.

Trading Hours

Monday to Thursday 8.30 - 5.00

Friday                            8.30 -4.00