Arber & Co is located on the Roman Road in east London. The grandfather of current owner Gary Arber founded the firm in 1897.
He said trading had become impossible due to parking restrictions enforced by Tower Hamlets Council, which meant customers stopping outside for a few minutes to pick up items such as heavy boxes of stationery or paper were receiving parking tickets issued automatically by camera systems on the road.
“It’s the spy cameras that have finished us,” Arber told PrintWeek. “Our customers are getting tickets and not coming back anymore. I had a client from a local church who waited outside for four minutes while picking up some boxes, and she got a £130 ticket.”
The resulting drop-off in trade has hit the firm hard. “I had to put in £2,000 of my own money for the business rates last year, it’s just not sustainable,” he said.
Arber & Co has a rich history. Arber’s grandmother Emily was a friend of Emmeline Pankhurst, and the Wharfedale printing press that produced posters for the suffragette movement is still in the basement.
The Wharfedale sits alongside five other presses, including a 1939 Heidelberg auto-platen, 1947 Lagonda auto-platen, Mercedes Crown and Supermatic cylinders, and a Golding platen.
“I’ve been trying to get them in the Museum of London but they are all in the basement and removing them will be difficult and expensive because they are so heavy,” Arber said.
“I don’t like to see it all go, but on the other hand I’m 82 and I’ve got to give up some time. But I’d like to go on my own terms and not be pushed.”
Time has stood still at the business, leading some visitors to liken it to nearby Dennis Severs’ house, which is open to visitors as a museum. “One idea would be to make it into a print equivalent, but there’s no funding for that,” Arber said.
Arber & Co has become familiar to a wider audience outside of the local area in recent years, after being featured in the blogs and books by anonymous blogger The Gentle Author, who chronicles the area in his Spitalfields Life series.
“I’m thinking of inviting The Gentle Author down to do a final piece,” Arber added.
Arber is now in the process of selling off his equipment and stock. The business is set to close its doors at the end of May.
Both images copyright: The Gentle Author of Spitalfields Life.
