Black and Edgington
of Port Scotland, camping, canvas and leisure group[1]
1966-67 Thomas Black and Sons (Greenock) made a reverse take-over of Silver and Edgington, although in the Blacks’ 1968 catalogue, it states that it was a merger between the two companies.
1967 July. On completion of this arrangement, the new group was named Black and Edgington Ltd., with Mr R.G. Duthie, the current Managing Director of Blacks, becoming the new Group M.D.
Acquired the Scout Shop at 40-42 Marsh Street, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent. Later on in the year, acquired, Q. M. Stores branch, 250, High Street, Sutton, Surrey.
1968 Benjamin Edgington’s shop in Shatesbury Avenue, London W.1. closed and merged with Black’s new branch at 53 Rathbone Place, Oxford Street, London. The recent acquisition of Players Sports Ltd., late of Newman Street, also moved to these extensive new premises, where the largest display of camping equipment was on show spread over three floors. Blacks retained their City branch at 22-24 Gray’s Inn Road, London.
- Northern Division: Port Glasgow, Scotland.
- Southern Division: Ruxley Corner, Sidcup, Kent.
- Black’s Camp & Canvas Hires Ltd., Ladyburn, Greenock, Scotland.
- Benjamin Edgington Hire Ltd., Tower Bridge, London, S.E.1.
Player Sports had an agreement with British Rail, which saw the provision of stocks of camping equipment established at the Channel Ports of Dover and Newhaven in conjunction with the Big Fleet Car Ferry Service.
1968 December. New range of frame tents for 1969 - The Safari Range. Frame tents now a major feature in the catalogue and an important part of overall sales.
1969 September. The Leeds Camping Centre was acquired (previously owned by Yorkshire Camping Shops Ltd.)
1970 Described as Britain's largest tent maker[2]
1970 Spring. Now operating the “U-Haul” trailer hire service with camping equipment hire linked with Sealink Cross-Channel Services. Also this year, a mobile exhibition unit built for touring the country and attending local demonstrations.
1970? Acquired the old West Country firm of Joseph Bryant and Co., manufacturers of caravan awnings, etc.
1970 Acquired the firm of Millets Stores (1928) Ltd.[3]. The benefit here, was in the large number of retail outlets added to compliment the growing number of revamped Blacks’ Leisure shops being set up.
1972 Acquired, Andrew Mitchell and Co. Ltd., a Scottish based company manufacturing and supplying tarpaulins. This merger almost doubled the size of the group.
1972? Acquired, Clares Carlton Ltd., a Somerset based manufacturer of protective work-wear.
1976 October. Following many years of negotiation, acquired by mutual agreement the old established firm of John Edgington and Co. Ltd., of 108, Old Kent Road, London - tent makers and hirers, and suppliers of fine camping equipment par excellence since its inception in 1805. The latter half of the seventies however, saw Blacks in recession and in decline. All similar firms were in the same position.
1977-79 Acquired Vango (Scotland) Ltd., 47, Colvend Street, Glasgow, which became an associated company within the group. Their reputation was founded on quality products, of which the Force Ten range of tents were perhaps best known. They also made frame tents and sleeping bags.
1980 By this year, of the long established tents, only the Good Companions Standard, Major, and the Arctic Guinea, were available. There were, however, some new nylon tents, an Atlas range, and the long established Patrol tents. With decline due to recession obvious, it was all a far cry from the catalogue product list of twenty years ago.
1982 There were many problems affecting the camping and outdoor leisure industry in the seventies, some of them were ‘home grown’ through government legislation, while others were of an international nature. There was also the change in the public’s buying habits. These problems impacted on firms like the Black & Edgington Group, giving a few years of recession. This recessional period lasted for a period of five to six years and peaked around 1979-81. Pay policies imposed by the Government, which were intended to limit inflation, did almost the exact opposite. With demand greatly diminished, the result for the Black & Edgington Group was that the factories at Bristol, Sidcup and Greenock had to be closed. The head office factory at Port Glasgow and the Mitchell Unit in Glasgow were the only two which survived. It was in the middle of all these problems with closures that the Board had to contend with a predator situation with regard to a small amount of equity. A very small percentage holding was sold by one of the non-executive directors to a third party, who in turn sold it to a body interested in purchasing part of the group.
With continuing poor performance from the B&E Group, the predator increased his holding substantially. This became the situation as of June 1983, when it was made clear by the predator that a full bid could be made within a few days. The initial reaction was to reject any bid, but financial advisers made it clear, that in the light of the continuing poor performance and the time it might take to restore profits, a ‘defence’ was impractical, and it was in the best interests of shareholders to ‘surrender’.
1983 Acquired by Hawley Group[4] who then sold the camping and leisure businesses to the Windmount consortium.
Between June 1983 and 2nd April 1984, the Group as it had been, ceased to exist. Hawley had made it clear throughout negotiations that it only wanted the Travel Division, and was prepared to sell off what remained to the highest bidder. As it happened, each division was sold off to its own management, with the exception of Blacks Camping and Leisure Shops, which went to others outside the group.
1984 Hawley sold the canvas and plastic-based manufacturing activities to their management in order to concentrate on the Insight and Evans Evans tours businesses. The 7 companies were acquired by a newly formed consortium, Rulups.[5]
Tent manufacturing became Vango (Scotland) Ltd., thereby reverting to the position it had before being amalgamated with Blacks some years earlier. The company retains the Black & Edgington business registration number. Apart from the Bungalow and the large patrol tents (Icelandic, Stormhaven and Nijer), no other Blacks tents were continued by the successor owners although some of Blacks sleeping bags, particularly the Icelandic range, were.
The Hiring and Flag Divisions amalgamated to become Black & Edgington Ltd. under a management buy-out. With a London base at Stratford for a few years, the head office was at Needingworth Road, St. Ives, Cambridge. Although still retaining its name, it subsequently became part of the Sellers Leisure Group until around 2002, when it then gave up its name as the Sellers Group became part of the Arena Event Services Group.
1986 Sears plc acquired Blacks Leisure Group in a last minute move to the save the firm from bankruptcy[6]
2025 Blacks of Greenock is still trading as part of the AMG group and has a website.
See Also
Sources of Information
- Sources: Early Camping Club Magazines. Camping Catalogues. Camp & Sports Co-operators Rule Book and paperwork. Compiled by Charles Alexander, Axminster, Devon. November 2014