PrintWeek reported two weeks ago that the company that appears to operate from a site in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, was now operating under the name Litho Printing t/a The Printing Press, but it now appears to have changed identity again and is referring to itself as Book Printer UK.

The Printing Press has no relation to Hampshire-based The Printing Press Ltd and specialist letterpress printer and bindery Book Printers Ltd of Finedon, Northamptonshire, which was founded in 2004, is no way associated with Book Printer UK.

Two sources have since alerted PrintWeek to the new company. Both had placed orders with The Printing Press and its apparent director Neill Malcolm Stuart John (alias Malcolm John) – the print farmer that takes deposits for jobs and then, often quoting alleged production problems, fails to deliver full orders – in the past two months that have not been fulfilled and are now in communication with him via an email address that contains the name Book Printer.

The Book Printer UK website is in the same style as The Printing Press’s website and the address for Book Printer UK listed on the website is the registered address of Litho Printing, 71-75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ. The 'About us' section on the website still refers to the company as Printing Press. 

Companies House lists Stuart Ralph Poppleton, who holds multiple other directorships, as Litho Printing director, while Clair Rosina Hunnisett is listed as a former director, terminating her appointment on 1 February 2017. 

Hunnisett was the sole director of Ink Paper Ltd, the company identified at the beginning of this year as being a new incarnation of UK Print, which operated from the same address. Hunnisett resigned as director of Ink Paper on 7 June 2017 and Poppleton was then appointed director on the same day. 

Both of the sources that contacted PrintWeek are self publishers. One has lost around £500 after submitting an order for 350 A5 perfect bound books in early June, with The Printing Press, now Book Printer UK, failing to deliver them in time for a late June book launch. 

The source, who is still yet to be reimbursed, contacted John multiple times after he initially stated turnaround would be 14 days and was nearing the launch date. John eventually was said to have responded saying: “Well you know what it's like, we weren't busy then, now we are.” 

The other source has lost £300 and also failed to receive books in time for a launch party, which took place abroad. When he tried to contact John he was instead directed to The Printing Press customer services manager Andy Jones, who reportedly told him it was his fault for “not getting the files in sooner”.

PrintWeek contacted John who chose not to comment on the client testimony but said that the firm had “always had different divisions” and that Book Printer UK had “been there for a while”. 

Since PrintWeek first brought Houseprint to the industry’s attention, it appears to have operated under at least four other trading names: UK Print, Ink Paper, Paper Press and now Litho Printing.