The Stoke-on-Trent-based business marked exactly half a century since it first opened its doors yesterday (4 February). It was established in 1969 by Alan Stanley and Arthur Rivers, who had previously worked as master printer and company secretary respectively at Sherwin & Co.

Founded in 1911, Sherwin & Co. closed in 1969 when local newspaper The Sentinel entered into negotiations to buy its printing works and its founder, A. C. J. Sherwin, decided to take a step back from the company.

Stanley and Rivers bought some of their former company’s equipment and established Sherwin Rivers as a new business, trading from a new location in the Cobridge area of the city.

Stanley’s son Steven Stanley, who has worked for the company for over 30 years, is now managing director while his son Alex Stanley is also a director and oversees graphic and web design, having joined 11 years ago.

Alex Stanley attributed the nine-staff company’s lasting success to “attention to detail and embracing new technology”.

“We also push our customer service and our turnaround times are now really quite quick, with high quality, which gives us that edge on the online competition,” he said.

The business still trades out of its original 370sqm Cobridge premises today though it is likely to be relocated by the council to a new 560sqm facility on a nearby industrial estate later this year.

It currently operates a fleet of two-colour and single-colour litho presses from Heidelberg, three Xerox digital printers, Roland DG wide-format kit and a raft of finishing equipment including a Horizon SPF-200A bookletmaker with two Horizon VAC-1000 collating towers that was installed last summer.

The company will hold a celebratory lunch for its staff later this week. Its premises have also been decorated with banners and it will wrap its vans with a new livery designed to commemorate the occasion.

Serving clients ranging from public authorities and large corporates through to SMEs, Sherwin Rivers currently turns over more than £500,000.