Sector spotlight: Bristol manufacturers and makers

Visitors arriving into Temple Meads are welcomed with the sight of blue taxis, painted to match the glass for which Bristol is famed.

The vehicles act as an early indication of the lasting pride in manufacturing operations, old and new, that give the city a valuable presence on the global stage.

From crafting traditions dating back centuries, to cutting-edge mechanical technology covering land, sea and air, Bristol’s economy has been enhanced by businesses that not only provide jobs for a skilled workforce, but also contribute to a vibrant culture that attracts visitors from far and wide.

Cameron Balloons is the biggest balloon manufacturer in the world

Perhaps most synonymous with Bristol are the hot air balloons dotted across the skies in the summer months that have seen the city rise to be recognised as the ballooning capital of the world.

This legacy is largely thanks to the work of Don Cameron, who founded Cameron Balloons in 1971, a company that is now the world’s largest manufacturer of hot air balloons.

“We export 85 per cent of the products we make, and we have even won a Queen’s Award for Export in 1989,” says Don’s daughter, Hannah Cameron.

“We employ 63 staff and have a real mix of amazing crafts-people and skilled staff, ranging in age from 21 to 80, all with fantastic and different skills, which enable us to create the incredible products for all our international and national clients.”

Don Cameron was a leading member of the small team that, in 1966, built the first modern hot air balloons in Western Europe, The Bristol Belle.

When he first founded Cameron Balloons, the business operated out of the basement flat at his family house in Cotham, moving into the cramped confines of a church hall in Kingsdown for 11 years, before relocating to its current HQ – the tall, red brick building on St John’s Street in Bedminster that was once owned by the Robinson Paper Corporation at the height of the industrial revolution.

“Say the word ‘factory’ to anyone and it conjures up images of a grimy, noisy manufacturing plant, but our print works building couldn’t be further away from that ancient scene,” says Hannah.

Don Cameron restored the historic Bedminster factory building to its former glory

Don had the vision to use and gradually restore the then-neglected premises to something more like its former manufacturing glory.

The company is credited with advancing the science, technology and the art of lighter-than-air flight to its highest level over a period of more than 25 years. It makes more than 75 per cent of the world’s special-shaped balloons, constructs approximately one balloon every day, and is a prolific exporter.

Bristol Blue Glass has revived the city’s historic glass-making tradition

Like Cameron Balloons, Bristol Blue Glass is proof that the era of traditional manufacturing roles is far from over. In fact, it is a sector that has flourished in recent years as nostalgia and the appetite for beautifully-crafted goods grows.

Established in 1988 by James Adlington, with the help of glass maker Peter St Clair, the aim was to re-establish a glass-making tradition in Bristol that had been lost for more than 60 years.

At this time, a lot of the traditional English glass-making techniques were in severe danger of being lost forever, so James managed to learn and pass on many of the old skills required to blow glass by hand, in the time-honoured fashion.

With a shop just off St Nick’s Market and a studio and shop on Bath Road, opposite Arnos Vale Cemetery, Bristol Blue Glass is renowned for making some of the finest tableware free blown in the UK, a legacy that has spread across the world with many a glassmaker trained in the traditional craft here.

The company exports globally, sells locally, has several corporate clients and commissions, and offers training courses in its Bath Road studio, but it is not immune to the uncertain economic climate that is testing much of the country’s business sector.

“The current financial situation has been made egregious by the wait for Brexit,” says Adlington.

“As a business owner, I am hoping for a no deal Brexit so we can get on and export Bristol Glass to the world. The biggest issue we are facing is that nobody knows what is happening and our current government seem to be in confusion also, which does not help at all.”

Airbus bosses have threatened to leave the UK in the event of a ‘no-deal’ Brexit

Manufacturing giants Airbus and Rolls Royce each have a base in Filton, where they employ thousands of staff and have helped cement the city’s reputation for mechanical engineering, which in turn has seen new startups pop up across the region.

In contrast to Adlington’s stance, bosses of both multinational companies have been vocal about the potentially devastating impact a ‘no-deal Brexit’ could have on the region.

The chief executive of Airbus has issued numerous warnings that the company may be forced to pull out of Britain if an agreement can’t be reached with the EU.

Speaking in January, Tom Enders said: “Please don’t listen to the Brexiteers’ madness which asserts that, because we have huge plants here, we will not move, and we will always be here. They are wrong.”

Describing the aerospace sector as one of the jewels in the crown for Bristol, Phil Smith, managing director of Business West, argues the warnings should be a wakeup call to politicians.

“This is not just an issue for Airbus, but poses a significant risk for smaller and medium-sized companies within Airbus’s supply chain and our wider aerospace sector,” he said.

Dyson, a pioneering force in innovative electrical, currently has a software hub in Bristol, as well as a head office in nearby Malmesbury in Wiltshire. But James Dyson, a prominent leave backer, made the shock announcement that he will be moving his company’s head office to Singapore.

The designer of Bristol’s cross-harbour ferry claims the relocation of Dyson has nothing to do with Brexit, but it is undoubtedly a sign of turbulent times for the manufacturing industry in Bristol.

One area that is seeing a growth in business is in products that help promote the sustainability and eco-friendly ethos that the city prides itself on.

An example in this area is Temple Cycles, which was founded by Matt Mears in 2014 and now has a workshop and showroom in Filwood Green Business Park, as well as a small shop in Cargo 2 at Wapping Wharf.

Temple Cycles’ bikes are assembled in Bristol and exported far and wide

Mears started designing custom steel frames and building them up into bikes for people while he was finishing his mechanical engineering degree at the University of Bristol. He progressed to a small workshop in Somerset, but soon needed more space.

“We had a team of three by then and needed to be closer to Bristol, which had a developing cycling scene,” explains Mears.

“The way we operate hasn’t changed much over the past few years. We still try and keep things as local as possible and carry out all the assembly of bikes in Bristol – painting is done in Cardiff.

“Our main aim is to develop a business that creates jobs in the cycling industry, take people on and train them with sustainable and transferable skills and also carve out our niche in the marketplace, which is quality hand-built bikes which last a lifetime.”

Matt has plans to keep growing Temple Cycles

The bulk of Temple Cycles’ business comes from online customers, with the majority of bikes sold outside the city. Since being founded, the company has grown year on year and have now sold bikes to 14 different countries, and accessories to 28.

London now accounts for a big chunk of the marketplace for Temple Cycles, but Mears says Bristol will always be home for the company, adding: “We want to keep growing and build our team here in Bristol.”

Lush Longboards are sold all over the world

From humble beginnings in a back garden in Bath, Lush Longboards has been based in Lawrence Hill since 2006 and is recognised as making some of the best longboards in the world. “We sell our product all over the world, but our focus right now is on our roots again in the UK longboard scene,” says founder Rich Auden.

“We have seen longboarding grow from a non-existent, minor fringe of skateboarding, into the well-developed international scene, community and industry it is today.”

The strong creative current and willingness to do things differently in Bristol have helped the business, which – as an early e-commerce adopter – has strong links with Bristol’s tech and design industry.

Auden adds: “As a small import, export, manufacturing, retail business, there’s some big challenges for us right now.  On the flip side, nearly 20 years of business experience has taught us that as long as we focus on getting people as stoked on longboarding as we are, then the future is bright.”

The business faces numerous challenges in the current economic climate

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