Having celebrated its 70th anniversary last year, Waltham Cross-based Last Bros shut down at the end of July, selling its premises to the local council. Long-time director Philip Last took the factory sale as a cue to fully bow out of the sector and wind down the business.
Managing director Jason Hennigan, who had managed the business day-to-day since Last’s retirement four years ago, has now established Corporate Tabs & Labels at new premises two miles from Last Bros’ former home.
The new company launched on 1 August and is run by Hennigan and business partner Tony Bloomfield. It employs six members of staff, all formerly of Last Bros. The remaining eight Last workers have found alternative employment.
“Without Philip, I would not be where I am now,” said Hennigan. “He was an amazing colleague and manager; I could not have asked for a better boss.
“Clients have been very happy with the move because they had been used to the high quality from Last Bros compared with the competition in tabbing. There are a lot of long-term customers and, in their eyes, we can provide the same level of service as ever.
“The ambition now is to grow; we want to provide a good service at a good price and from that we can see where it takes us. We have a five-year plan and from that we could take another label press or move to bigger premises. We plan to conquer the world.”
Corporate Tabs & Labels offers the same services as Last Bros, running a Focus dFlex UV digital inkjet label press transferred from the former company. It will serve a similar client base which includes customers in the pharmaceutical sector, as well as the trade.
It currently runs out of 185sqm premises in Cheshunt, Waltham Cross, providing trade tabbing, toner-receptive tabs, self-adhesive labels on the reel, foil blocking and other finishing services.
Last Bros was founded in 1948 by brothers Ken and Alan Last before the reins were passed to their respective sons Philip and Stephen. The label and tab sides of the business, initially run as two separate subsidiaries, were merged in August 2017 ahead of last year’s 70-year celebrations.
