The firm pioneered various printing methods in its day, such as the monstrous Dreadnought press of 1910 that could produce seven 32pp sections in a single revolution.
Then there are the authors and luminaries who’ve visited its printing works over the years: Field Marshall Montgomery travelling to B&T to see his A Concise History of Warfare being bound in 1969; Prime Minister Harold Wilson signing copies of his book for a book club; Delia Smith – for whom B&T printed millions of cookbooks over the years – visiting the factory to officially inaugurate a new large-format colour press 20 years ago. And, following in her floured footsteps, the then-cookery wunderkind Jamie Oliver.
But it’s also been a turbulent history. Such as the time during the Second World War when the factory was requisitioned to make aircraft engines. And while the company survived this and many other ups and downs, it has been the modern-day crises that have ultimately spelled the end for the business.
The advent of cheap colour printing from the Far East resulted in an abrupt loss of work for then-major customer Dorling Kindersley in the 1990s. And overseas competition only became fiercer.
Continental competitors, too, seemed to have an advantage – even those not in low-wage regions.
“We pay more for paper in this country than they do in Europe,” states book production expert Francis Atterbury, partner at Hurtwood Press and Artisan Books. “I can have a book quoted in Munich and if it was £5,000, then it would cost £8,000 in the UK. Same materials, same press. So why is that?”
And publishing is a cut-throat game where every penny counts. One supplier to B&T, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “Buyers will be saying ‘this is very sad and shouldn’t be allowed to happen’ and the next thing will be screwing down suppliers like B&T for 10p a copy. German publishers seem to be more loyal to their own producers.”
B&T tried to diversify, to use the high-quality repro, printing and binding skills honed producing books for other types of work that had similar requirements, such as fine art and high-end report and accounts.
More recently it leveraged its wide-format printing know-how when it won a deal to print for the Ordnance Survey. This, though, takes place via a separate legal entity and is set to continue, albeit at different and as yet undecided location.
But all of this never seemed to produce enough volume, or enough profit, to sustain its huge factory in Frome, and the B&T business dwindled within its cavernous space.
Meanwhile, B&T like so many companies found itself with a huge pension deficit under the FRS17 accounting rules.
In 2003 the firm posted sales of £42.5m, and an operating profit that was down a whopping 83% on the prior year at £302,000. The pension deficit was an eye-watering £27.8m.
The then-directors wrestled with these issues, and indeed the pension deficit was reduced.
There were costly problems with replacing the factory roof. And the site itself was sold and leased back as part of a refinancing in 2006.
Failed rescue
By then the business was seriously weakened. A supposed white knight takeover deal with now-disgraced Mike Dolan and his Media & Print Investments group turned into a nightmare and B&T was set to close six years ago. But for the intervention of mercurial publishing magnate Felix Dennis it would have done.
Dennis has bankrolled the business to the tune of millions of pounds. But unlike, Sir John Madejski at Goodhead Group, he has always been clear that, ultimately, the company had to be able to stand on its own two feet.
Speaking to PrintWeek a few months after the takeover deal in 2008, he stated: “We were determined only to create a sustainable printing company. No one can know the future but we knew that if we didn’t start off with the goal of sustainability, it would get itself into this trouble again. That became the tipping point for us, when we knew we were going to try this, to attempt this... I am very serious about it and I am determined to give them the very best chance of third time lucky.”
The circa £10m-turnover firm’s 100 staff have indeed been lucky to be employed for the past six years, but now luck and time have run out for this venerable book printer.
Even some of the more recent decisions were questionable, such as that to install a new Heidelberg Speedmaster VLF press in 2011 on a site the firm knew it would have to vacate. The costs of finding a suitable new site and relocating its kit being contributory factors in its demise.
One seasoned print boss described B&T as “just the latest example” of a print business where the numbers simply didn’t stack up.
“If you’re not covering your cost of capital, you’re going out of business. It’s just a question of when,” he states.
Buyers seeking volume colour book production in the UK now need to look north where Bell & Bain is poised to add case binding this summer. “I think we might be last man standing,” says sales director Tony Campbell. “People want books out quicker. They want 1,000 to 5,000 books quickly, and we can do it.”
So, theoretically, could BT&D, but that business has reached its epilogue – what happens next with the unravelling of the Berforts BT&D merger and the Ordnance Survey map printing work.
Reader reaction: How do you view the BT&D crisis?
Francis Atterbury, partner, Hurtwood Press
“It’s such a shame; they had such a history. This is a terrible loss for Frome. Nobody knows how to make a decent book anymore in this country, beyond artisan producers. If I want five copies of something for the Aga Khan there’s no place better to do it than Britain. If I want 5,000 books for a high-end publisher then I have to do it in Europe. Clearly there is a market for high-quality reasonably priced books. So why has this happened? In my opinion we pay too much for paper in the UK. We don’t invest enough in equipment and investment decisions are often driven by finance directors not by manufacturing directors.”
Kevin Sarney, business development director at EPC Direct and former managing director of Butler Tanner & Dennis
“This is very sad news and I hear it with a heavy heart. I’m sad for the people who worked so hard to make it happen and my overriding sympathy is for the staff and their families. The volume will go to Europe because there’s no credible alternative left in the UK for that sort of work. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. There were always a number of issues in the business, and they were unable to resolve the site issue. The whole team during my time there committed everything to make it work. Felix Dennis and his team could not have done any more to support that business.”
Neil Palfreyman, production director, Thames & Hudson
“We tried to support them whenever we could, especially for short-turnaround work, and it was great to have someone just down the road as I’ve always been keen for editors and publishers to go and see what’s involved. But BT&D always struggled on price. European printers in Italy, Slovenia, Slovakia and Spain were always more competitive. A couple of years ago I took a team of people to Frome and you could almost see the tumbleweed. I still know people who work there and they were always really helpful. If someone came to me now and said ‘I want to print a colour book in Britain’ then there is no full service provider left.”
BT&D timeline
1845 WT Butler opens his first printing business in Bath Street, Frome
1854 The company moves to Selwood Printing Works in Trinity Street
1857 Steam power was introduced and the company was renamed WT Butler’s Steam Printing Works. A staff of two men and five boys ran the presses
1863 Joseph Tanner, discouraged by the weaving industry moving north, goes into partnership with WT Butler
1867 WT Butler retires
1889 Arabian Nights printed for Constable
1895 Printing output was 13.5m sheets per year. Joseph Tanner dies leaving the business to his sons Russell and Lanfear
1904 Mains electricity replaced steam to power the presses
1907 The company purchased eight acres of land, now the existing premises at Caxton Road
1910 Butler & Tanner’s first large format press called ‘Dreadnought’ installed. Capable of printing 224 pages per revolution and delivering up to seven 32 page folded sections. It printed the original AA Handbook
1928 Decides to develop the book manufacturing arm of the business, investing in larger and larger presses. By 1935 B&T had 20 of the largest printing machines in the UK, if not in the world
1936 B&T first to investigate film-setting and offset lithography
1938 In the shadow of the coming war, publishers’ sales to bookshops drop by some 25%
1939 The entire board of B&T are called up for war duties and the company is requisitioned to manufacture aircraft engines
1947 B&T’s factory is returned from war service
1948 Joe Tanner joins the company
1951 50% of B&T’s directors were women
1953 First books printed for the Folio Society
1958 A letterpress web press was installed called ‘The Bristolian’
1966 B&T purchased its first two colour offset presses from Crabtree Vickers
1969 Joe Tanner becomes chairman. A Concise History of Warfare was printed and Field Marshall Montgomery visits B&T to see his book being bound
1970 Prints Who’s Who for first time
1978 Hot metal and letterpress printing closed
1981 The company battles to survive in the face of soaring inflation and the strong pound
1986 Purchased Lawrence Allen and passed the £1m profit mark for first time
1987 Brand new printing hall built to accommodate the firm’s development into four-colour printing. First colour book Matchroom Snooker for Michael Joseph
1988 Peter Maunder and Adrian Huett appointed joint managing directors
1992 Radstock Reproductions acquired, taking the firm into colour repro
1994 Joe Tanner retires as chairman after a 25-year reign
1995 Group turnover exceeds £40m, profits are over £3m
1996 Prints 1.7m copies of Delia Smith’s Winter Collection
1998 First digital press installed
1999 Enters corporate and commercial print markets
2002 Colour digital printing introduced
2003 Two KBA perfectors installed making a total of seven KBA presses in as many years
2004 Rapid downturn in European colour book manufacturing, caused by massive growth in China
2006 Joe Tanner dies. Sale and leaseback of premises funds refinancing of business
2007 Further refinancing secured via the firm’s pension scheme assets and deferral of payments. Butler & Tanner’s pension deficit of some £10m halts a proposed buyout by Media & Print Investments, which subsequently buys the firm out of administration instead
2008 MPI owner Mike Dolan makes all 287 staff redundant following a dispute over pay and conditions. The firm is set to close. Felix Dennis rescues the business, which is renamed Butler Tanner & Dennis
2009 Celebrates 100 years of printing at Caxton Road and launches Great British Books marque
2010 Wins four-year contract to print maps for Ordnance Survey. Orders UK’s first Heidelberg Speedmaster XL 162 VLF press
2013 Mike Dolan and Ben Crozier of MPI are disqualified as directors for eight years. Merger announced with Berforts to create Berforts BT&D, with Felix Dennis and Berforts owner Gerald White taking a 50:50 stake. Site to be redeveloped. Firm negotiates a year’s extension on its lease
2014 Has to relocate from Frome site by 14 September. Shareholders announce the book printing business is being put into administration and will be shut down
Source: Butler Tanner & Dennis, PrintWeek
