Charles Watson
OUR HERITAGE
1880
In 1880, Charles Watson is born in Halifax, West Yorkshire. For 10 years, Charles Watson developed his skills and passion with ironmongery and building. By the age of 20, Charles Watson had developed his passion so much, that he wanted to take it that little step further and share the passion with others. As a result, Charles Watson Builders Ironmongers was born. Charles Watson endured a solid 32 years running the business, where in that time he established the go-to place for ironmongery in Halifax. Business was booming. Unfortunately, in 1932, Charles Watson died but that didn’t stop the business from living on in his name. His grandson, Selwyn Watson took over in 1932.
1954
Selwyn continued to run the business, and upheld the reputation that Charles had made for the company. In 1954, Selwyn transformed the business into the name it is called today. Selwyn continued to run the business up until 1965, where C Bancroft Ltd bought out the business.C Bancroft Ltd was also a family owned business that was founded by Cyril Bancroft, and incorporated in 1932. It took only 2 years for the Bancroft’s to move Charles Watson to Pellon Lane, the same area where the Halifax branch is located now.
1968
In 1968, the Bancroft’s founded the sister company of Charles Watson which was known as Banson Tool Hire until 2016. The name was derived from the surnames of both the Bancroft’s and the Watsons. Business only got better. From 1968, the Bancroft’s opened numerous branches around West Yorkshire, including a branch in Leeds, Huddersfield, Brighouse and Keighley. This spread business all over West Yorkshire, but the Bancroft’s looked further than that.
1999
They had a vision to get Charles Watson’s across the country, and furthermore across the world. In 1999, Charles Watson went online, enabling tradesmen and DIYers to access Charles Watson products and services from anywhere in the country. Charles Watson created a successful website, and also an eBay store which now has over 175,000 positive feedback and has taken orders from over 300,000 different customers from all over the world.
NOW
From 1880 until the present day, the Charles Watson name lives on in Charles Watson (Ironmongers) Ltd. The passion of Charles Watson has not diminished, and you’ll still find it in our staff today. You can, and will experience the same high quality service and satisfaction now that customers received back then.