Mount Street Printers invests and expands footprint as business grows

Mount Street Printers has purchased a new Polar guillotine as it starts to increase production at its new West London facility.

The family-run, Mayfair-based firm ordered the new Polar N78 Eco at Drupa, its third and largest Polar guillotine. The company also owns two Polar 66s.

The new device, which cuts stock up to 780mm-wide and features a loading height of 120mm, cost around £30,000.

"We've increased our volume and sheet sizes, and now the Polar will allow us to cut B1 to whatever size we need," said sales director Alex Cain. 

The Polar is set for delivery to Mount Street's new 1,000sqm facility in Acton in two to three weeks.

Cain explained that Mount Street had purchased the Acton facility around a year ago when an opportunity arose, but had waited until recently to start shifting some of its production work over.

"We've collected a lot of equipment over the years and have added die-stamping presses and Heidelberg Windmills quite recently, so we're getting a bit cramped at Mount Street. Now we're gradually moving kit to Acton so we're slowing getting set up over there," he said. 

Cain said around 10% of production now came from the Acton site and that eventually all production would shift there, although there was no time scale for that. Meanwhile the eponymous W1 print shop, which is owned by the family, will be retained.

He said: "We're not in any rush. We are making sure it’s right. Business has been pretty good for us. We have seen a lot of traditional printers move out of town and luckily we own our premises here so we aren’t under any pressure from increased rent and overheads, which is a real problem for many businesses."

Currently the Acton site houses "around a dozen" pieces of equipment, including letterpress and foil blocking devices, as well as one of the firm's two digital presses, a Ricoh Pro 7110X with white-ink capability.

Mount Street diversified into the digital market four years ago, with the installation of a Linoprint C751, producing documents and colour brochures.

With the addition more recently of the Ricoh, Cain said digital now generates 10% of the company's output.

"We will be buying another digital press soon for the Acton site. We're currently in negotiations with a couple of manufacturers," Cain added.

The company, traditionally a luxury stationery firm, offers a range of services including thermography, die-stamping, die-cutting, foiling and letterpress and also large-format work and digital work. Mount Street holds a royal warrant. 

The £3m-turnover business employs 28 people, with plans to grow headcount organically in time.