The Swindon franchise of US-based chain Minuteman Press reopened its doors in June 2022 after its offices were wrecked in July 2021 by flooding, which irreparably damaged the shop’s two Xerox Versant presses.

Three months later, with respective insurance companies still tussling over whose responsibility it was to move out the rest of Minuteman’s machinery, the building caught fire and the shop’s destruction was complete.

James Beckwith, who runs the shop with his wife Sarah, said the reconstruction process had been daunting.

“It was quite rough on us, personally. 

“My wife and I tried to keep the finances going. We did manage to keep our employee, and we were able to do some orders [through the website].”

While the website was open for business, Beckwith had to outsource every job to keep the business, which normally turns over around £200,000 a year, afloat.

“At the outset, revenues were down about 80%-85%,” he said.

From the ashes, however, Beckwith is hoping to come back stronger than before. Working with his insurance company, he arranged the installation of a Xerox Iridesse colour digital production press, to replace the two Versants. 

Both sides were happy with the arrangement, he said, because the insurance company spent less on the one machine, and Minuteman got to upgrade both its quality and speed of production with the six-colour Iridesse.

The company has also reinstalled an HP Latex 335 and an Epson SureColor, both replacements for destroyed machines.

“We’re very positive on the outlook, because of the simple fact that we survived it – we didn’t go bankrupt, we survived. 

“We’ve got greater capabilities, and we’ve got all-new equipment.”