Wilsons of Colchester Acquires Westbrook & Thompson

Wilsons of Colchester who import, distribute & wholesale branded household, hardware & DIY products to the retail trade throughout the UK have acquired Westbrook & Thompson for an undisclosed sum.

Incorporated by Mr Westbrook & Mr Thompson in 1919, just after the first World War, the company originally concentrated on the supply of Indian rubber, leather and plastic goods although highly regarded in this area of the business they expanded to encompass hardware supplies.

Mr Donald Westbrook Junior took over the company from his father and ran it successfully up to 1993 until retirement age. The company was then purchased by Mr Anthony Pays & Mr Raymond Davies and introduced exciting, new product ranges from Gardening Products to Bird Care. The company changed hands in 2017 from Mr Pays to Mr M Guirard. Mr Anthony Pays took a back seat from the day to day running of the business but has been a very active part of the company until today.

In 2018 Westbrook & Thompson Ltd were still supplying and distributing, household, trade and hardware products across the length and breadth of the country offering great products, pricing and service. 

A spokesperson for Wilsons said “We are delighted to share with you that Wilsons has agreed to take on the Westbrook & Thompson business. This is an excellent move forward for Wilsons, and ensures that all customers can still get supply of Westbrook’s unique range of products. For those of you who are not familiar with their range, we look forward to sharing all the new lines with you very soon!".
 
It's understood that the stock will be transferred to Colchester this week. To stay up to date with developments, you should check the news section of the Wilsons website, as they we will be providing daily updates on progress.

Go to the Wilsons Website here.
 
The Wilsons team has suggested customers and suppliers get in touch through their usual contacts if they have any questions.

Update from Wilsons Team - 1st June 2018

The bulk of the Westbrook stock arrived at our warehouse yesterday, and we are expecting the remainder of the products on Monday. Our Warehouse Team has started working their way through the pallets this morning, and we are confident that with the help of additional staff, we will have all the new stock lines available very soon!  Since yesterday morning we have also been working hard to list the new products on all our systems including the website. To make it easy for you, we are adding the Westbrook & Thompson codes to all the products including our existing lines. In the meantime, we would encourage everyone to place their orders as usual. We aim to start dispatching orders during next week.  Follow us here for further updates!

Call us on: 01206 86 11 22
Email: sales@wilsonscolchester.com
Fax: 01206 87 82 49 

Source: Insight DIY Team & Wilsons Press Release

For all the very latest news and intelligence on the UK's largest home improvement and garden retailers, sign up for the Insight DIY weekly newsletter.