Ed Denovan and Glenn Church were both running private presses. Denovan was behind Letterpress Works, while Church produced the Inky Beard Times.

The duo has rented space at the Canterbury facility of Linecasting Machinery for their new venture, Letterpress Junction, which aims to capitalise on the resurgence in demand for the tactile qualities of letterpress printing.

“We’ve got the kit and we’ve got the experience – with a combined experience of 90 years’ printing letterpress between us quality comes as standard,” said Denovan.

Letterpress Junction runs a range of kit including an old Thompson platen, a Gietz platen, a Victoria platen and a vertical Miehle from the 1960s, which Denovan quipped was “quite modern”.

It also has a 1940s Soldans poster press. “We are able to produce short-run posters up to a ‘massive’ 40x30 inch sheet size,” he added.

The duo can produce photopolymer plates but Letterpress Junction also uses wooden type and a range of hot metal typesetting equipment including Monotype, Intertype and Ludlow machines.

The firm is primarily targeting designers and digital printers who want to add bespoke, high-quality letterpress to their offering.

“We have built a pricing structure that’s easy to understand, and are aiming for a standard turnaround time of five days,” Denovan added. “We work closely with our designer clients to realise their vision and will never take on work that we cannot deliver to our clients’ deadlines.”

Letterpress Junction is contactable via letterpressjunction.co.uk.