After 40 years trading as Clarendon Press he sadly closed its doors last year to concentrate on Cotswold Letterpress, enjoying bringing back the old letterpress techniques alongside the usual litho and digital offerings.

Where are you based?

Wotton-under-Edge in Gloucestershire on the Cotswold Way. Walkers pass by and peer through our shop window at the 1860 Cropper Treadle on display

How many staff do you have?

Five

What does your firm do?

General jobbing print, stationery, greetings cards and luxury invitations

Which geographic areas do you serve?

Our clients are local, national and European

What’s been your proudest achievement in recent years? 

I was introduced to Prince (now King) Charles to discuss the work we do for Highgrove. Earlier this year we were also recognised as one of Gloucestershire’s ‘hiddenems’ by local publisher SoGlos

What’s your team’s favourite biscuit?

Hobnobs!

Pete’s story

“I left school in 1964 and served my time as an apprentice compositor in North Wales when litho was in its infancy. On day release at Liverpool College of Art I specialised in Monotype hot metal typesetting and this stood me in good stead as the industry was crying out for operators. (The Daily Mail had two pages of printing vacancies in every Wednesday edition). I took a job with Cambridge University Press and specialised in Russian Cyrillic typesetting for 10 shillings a week extra (50p). Hot metal in its prime.

“I moved West to Bristol to become a Berthold Diatronic operator in the early days of phototypesetting, enjoying the luxury of actually seeing what I was typesetting on a tiny screen the size of a thermometer.

“I’m still working at the age of 75, and enjoying the industry and the remarkable changes I’ve seen. It’s a long time since I would dip my finger into the molten lead pot (suitably covered in engine grease, of course) as a party trick in the casting department in the 1960s.”