Contact Fred Aldous

In 1886 Fred Aldous I set up shop with his handcart on Elbow street Manchester. The business was founded for importing canes & willows to make skips & baskets for the cotton trade.
In 1902 Fred Aldous II joins his father in the family business.
In the 1920's FA II spotted the potential of supplying art and craft materials, their popularity grew so that they quickly became the core of the business.
In 1930 FA I retires passing the baton on to FA II.
In 1946 Fred Aldous becomes a private limited company.
In 1950 the business moved to a new shop and offices at 20/22 Withy Grove, Manchester. Crafts were very popular during this time and the shop reflected that success.
In 1963 the popularity of television had an impact on peoples spare time and crafts & hobbies lost their widespread appeal. The Withy Grove shop was sold and Fred Aldous Ltd temporarily moved to 31 Back Piccadilly.
In 1966 we moved into the shop we occupy today at 37 Lever Street.
In 1970 it was time for Fred Aldous II to take a back seat and become a chairman. Christopher Fred Aldous III became Managing Director of the business steering the company through some difficult times.
In 1978 we bought a building for manufacturing in Peak Dale. This enabled us to increase our product range and create high quality Fred Aldous products.
In 1979 Robert Fred Aldous IV becomes a director.
In 1983 Trevor Walker and Graham Aldous become Directors.
In 1987 the company purchases a Computer. Prior to this all the invoices were typed.
In 1992 Christopher retires passing on the job of Managing Director to Robert. Later that year Christopher's sister Freda retires and Graham takes over as Company Secretary.
In 1993 there was a break in at the shop, when they couldn't remove a computer they set fire to it which activated the sprinkler system! The staff rallied together to overcome this double disaster of fire and flood. The old typewriter was dusted off to get orders out to our customers.
In 1996 Sue Walker (nee Aldous) Joins the board as happiness director.
In 2002 Mavis Perkins retires after 54 years of service. She came to us on a work experience and never left.
In 2005 Fred Aldous Ltd was granted the Investors in people award.
In 2006 Fred Aldous Ltd took the step of having a stock control system which enables us to keep in stock over 25,000 different products. This system will be linked to our new website we have created with lots of new images.
We hope you have enjoyed this brief overview of the history of Fred Aldous.