StormMeister® Flood Protection is located at the historic Sellers Street Works in Preston where there has been a proud tradition of manufacturing since 1857. Sellers Street is so named because it marked the eastern boundary of Irvin and Sellers, a company dating back to the early days of the Industrial Revolution.

Preston was the hometown of Richard Arkwright inventor of the water frame cotton spinning machine, and pioneer of manufacturing as we know it today. On the back of Arkwright’s invention Preston became the worldwide hub of the cotton industry where Irvin and Sellers in Fletcher Road, Preston started manufacturing bobbins in 1799. Irvin and Sellers went on to become the world’s largest manufacturer of bobbins and shuttles for the cotton industry, with manufacturing in Preston and offices in London and New York.

In 1848 a railway was established at the northern perimeter of the Irvin and Sellers works to carry coal and raw materials to their works, and to carry manufactured goods away. In 1857, Thomas Blackburn and Sons, a heavy engineering company was established at the top end of Sellers Street next to the railway. Their premises became known as the Sellers Street Works where constructional iron and steelwork was produced for factories and cotton mills throughout the world. Thomas Blackburn and sons also produced cast iron railings and gates, many of which to this day adorn the streets and squares of London.

Thomas Blackburn and Sons prospered for over 100 years but with the demise of heavy engineering in the UK the last freight train from the Sellers Street Works ran in 1968. Thomas Blackburn and Sons closed in the late 1970s but that was not the end of manufacturing at the Sellers Street Works, Printing Press Services International, one of the world’s largest printing press manufacturers established their manufacturing base at the Sellers Street Works.

For the next forty years printing presses from the Sellers Street Works were sold to newspaper proprietors in the UK, the USA, and throughout the world. Then along came the internet and declining demand for printing presses, Printing Press Services finally closed in 2022. This however was fortuitous for StormMeister® Flood Protection who occupied premises next-door to Sellers Street in West View.

StormMeister® moved to the Sellers Street Works later in 2022 from their premises next-door in West View. Climate change and consequent increasing demand for flood protection products meant StormMeister® needed larger premises and the almost 40,000 square feet vacated by Printing Press Services International met that need. There was the added advantage moving to larger premises literally only involved moving next-door! StormMeister® is now firmly established in manufacturing and product testing in the Sellers Street Works, thereby continuing a proud tradition of manufacturing established in Preston in the early days of the Industrial Revolution.