Barwell originally started as a retreading business way back in 1927 when retreading was in its infancy. The founder of the Company, Reginald Barwell, set a pattern which exists in the company to this day – the products must be good value for money, of excellent quality, and all dealings, with suppliers and customers alike, must be honest and straightforward. 

Reginald’s two sons, John and Eric, eventually joined the business and in the late 1930’s John became involved in the development of novel machinery, the Barwell Ram Extruder, used initially in Barwell’s own retreading factory. The success of the ram extruder led to the foundation of a machinery business in the early 1950’s.

It soon became apparent that rubber moulders everywhere were having the same problems as we had experienced, and in 1966 the new Precision Preformer began to attract orders from all over the world. Its success led, in 1969, to our first Queen’s Award for both Export Achievement and Technological Innovation.  The Barwell Preformer is now regarded as standard equipment for blank preparation by the industry world-wide, and today there are Barwell Preformers in operation in no less than 75 countries!

The machinery business quickly grew into the major activity on the Barwell site and in 1969 a subsidiary company was formed in Ohio, USA, to handle sales and service of our equipment in North America.

A second Queen’s Award for Export Achievement was presented in 1974 and a third in 1986. In 1976, the two Barwell brothers, after a lifetime with the company, decided to sell the business and retire.  The Company still sells over 80% of its machinery outside the UK, and the pattern set by Reginald Barwell all those years ago continues to ensure that the name Barwell is known and respected in rubber companies, large and small, throughout the world.