D350RDV
Well-known member
There doesn't seem much available on the internet for Britool fans, so I thought I'd start this thread as a place to collate information and discuss this classic British brand from its inception to the end of the 20th century when production was moved out of the UK.
Britool were the premier post-war British hand tool brand in the automotive, plant and industrial sectors and were regarded as equal (or even preferable) to Snap On by many professionals for most of the second half of the 20th century.
There are several differing accounts of the company's early history but it seems it began in 1908 with the formation of the British Tool and Engineering Company, based in Wolverhampton. It is likely that the company was a subsidiary of Jenks Bros Ltd from the outset. By 1920 they were manufacturing a full range of hand tools and in 1937 moved to larger premises in conjunction with Jenks Bros. Some spanners from this era were marked “Jenbro” rather than Britool. After World War Two Britool expanded and modernised its range to meet the demands of a more mechanised age and were taken over in 1969 by the James Neill Group who already owned a number of world leading tool brands including Eclipse, Moore & Wright and Elliot Lucas.
Production remained in Wolverhampton but along with many British brands quality control suffered through parts of the 1970's and the range was reduced somewhat in the poor economic climate. Matters improved in the 1980's with improved manufacturing processes, some subtle design changes and an expansion of the range again to include a much wider range of tools such as screwdrivers, pliers etc to sit alongside the staple products of wrenches and socketry.
A new line of tools aimed at the automotive market was introduced in 1989 under the Britool Hallmark brand and sold directly to garages etc from a fleet of Britool owned vans. The traditional tool line was retained under the “Industrial Range” banner. Some of the products in the Hallmark range were clearly borrowed from the original range. I have a 3/8" drive ratchet with identical innards, forging and handle, but it is in a high polish rather than satin finish chrome with a different part number.
In 1991 Britool was taken over by Facom, new investment saw the introduction of some new lines, including some re-branded variants of existing Facom products (such as the fine tooth ratchets)as well as some tools from the Sykes Pickavant range (also owned by Facom) included. The 1997 catalogue boasts 3 times the range than was available in 1991 but another decline in the company's fortunes was just over the horizon. Soon a new, visibly cheaper, range replaced the existing tools as Facom decided that Britool was to become their economy brand. UK production was phased out 2001 and the factory in Cannock they had moved to from Wolverhampton in the early 1980s was then used as the UK headquarters and distribution base for Britool, Sykes-Pickavant and Facom. Britool branded products were then sourced either from France or the far east and it would appear that at least some of the tooling for the inferior quality (very) late 90's range was shipped overseas to this end.
There's more information on the history here: http://www.historywebsite.co.uk/Museum/metalware/britool/britool.htm - thanks to humber2 for the link.
Now owned by Stanley, the name lives on as brand applied to their “Expert” range in the UK, where it is sold cheaper alternative to Mac and also as Britool Hallmark, both of which are outside the “vintage” scope of this thread.
Britool were the premier post-war British hand tool brand in the automotive, plant and industrial sectors and were regarded as equal (or even preferable) to Snap On by many professionals for most of the second half of the 20th century.
There are several differing accounts of the company's early history but it seems it began in 1908 with the formation of the British Tool and Engineering Company, based in Wolverhampton. It is likely that the company was a subsidiary of Jenks Bros Ltd from the outset. By 1920 they were manufacturing a full range of hand tools and in 1937 moved to larger premises in conjunction with Jenks Bros. Some spanners from this era were marked “Jenbro” rather than Britool. After World War Two Britool expanded and modernised its range to meet the demands of a more mechanised age and were taken over in 1969 by the James Neill Group who already owned a number of world leading tool brands including Eclipse, Moore & Wright and Elliot Lucas.
Production remained in Wolverhampton but along with many British brands quality control suffered through parts of the 1970's and the range was reduced somewhat in the poor economic climate. Matters improved in the 1980's with improved manufacturing processes, some subtle design changes and an expansion of the range again to include a much wider range of tools such as screwdrivers, pliers etc to sit alongside the staple products of wrenches and socketry.
A new line of tools aimed at the automotive market was introduced in 1989 under the Britool Hallmark brand and sold directly to garages etc from a fleet of Britool owned vans. The traditional tool line was retained under the “Industrial Range” banner. Some of the products in the Hallmark range were clearly borrowed from the original range. I have a 3/8" drive ratchet with identical innards, forging and handle, but it is in a high polish rather than satin finish chrome with a different part number.
In 1991 Britool was taken over by Facom, new investment saw the introduction of some new lines, including some re-branded variants of existing Facom products (such as the fine tooth ratchets)as well as some tools from the Sykes Pickavant range (also owned by Facom) included. The 1997 catalogue boasts 3 times the range than was available in 1991 but another decline in the company's fortunes was just over the horizon. Soon a new, visibly cheaper, range replaced the existing tools as Facom decided that Britool was to become their economy brand. UK production was phased out 2001 and the factory in Cannock they had moved to from Wolverhampton in the early 1980s was then used as the UK headquarters and distribution base for Britool, Sykes-Pickavant and Facom. Britool branded products were then sourced either from France or the far east and it would appear that at least some of the tooling for the inferior quality (very) late 90's range was shipped overseas to this end.
There's more information on the history here: http://www.historywebsite.co.uk/Museum/metalware/britool/britool.htm - thanks to humber2 for the link.
Now owned by Stanley, the name lives on as brand applied to their “Expert” range in the UK, where it is sold cheaper alternative to Mac and also as Britool Hallmark, both of which are outside the “vintage” scope of this thread.
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