B Rourke and Co

I went up to Burnley on Thursday to collect a machine I bought at auction, the liquidators of B Rourke had sold the machine to pay their creditors.

Rourkes’ had been in business since 1961, its’ closure resulted in the loss of thirty-seven jobs. The only time I spoke to Brian Rourke was by telephone and the exchange was to say the least acrimonious. That being said, I have nothing but admiration for what he achieved, he started a business in a chicken shed that has produced work of exceptional quality, which set a standard for others to aspire to and created a business model that has been copied by many, few of those are even its’ equal. I don’t know what the reason was for Rourkes’ failure but walking round the rapidly emptying factory filled me with great sadness, two of the chaps we spoke to had worked there for over twenty years.

http://www.burnleyexpress.net/news/business-news/iconic-burnley-ironsmiths-goes-into-administration-37-jobs-lost-1-4790332

This is an example of their work

http://www.flickr.com/photos/72426561@N07/6539065475/

"the tripods are good but in some scenarios the wide base and the fact the 3rd leg has to be placed some distance away from the step part for stability makes this large foot print impractical eg when cutting hedge behind a shed or greenhouse with…"

"Never tried these but always thought they look a bit of a pain to cart about. Looking at the picture, seems you're quite away from the hedge so you have to reach out more? I just use ordinary aluminium extension ladders that you can easily adjust…"

"Tripods are better than any other ladder that's a fact. You can cut hedges that are lower than the ladder but it is more awkward, I have a 6ft amd a 12 foot been using both for the last 15yrs and haven't come stuck yet. Believe me once you've had…"

Comments

chris nangle October 2, 2012 at 9:02pm

wow that is very sad Phil, wonderful work Hard too know what went wrong,alas its a sign of the times mate.

last spring I was going too employ two new staff now im back working with just one guy,work is very hard too find at the mo so if you had over thirty chaps too find work for ?

lets just hang in and ride it out mate.

regards Chris
Fenlandphil October 3, 2012 at 1:56am

I am sorry you are quiet Chris, is it a slowdown in work for councils or more general?

As for Rourkes, apparently, according to one of my customers, they had been losing half a million pounds a year. Not quite in the same league as RBS or Lloyds but unlike the banks they obviously weren't given the same help by our government to try and get back on their feet. Perhaps if government money was put into manufacturing rather than gold plating failed bankers pensions we might get the country back on its' feet.
Ofer El-hashahar October 14, 2012 at 8:43pm

Sad it is, and hard to understand that such a quality can not find enough to do well...