Yorkshire has long been famous as a centre for textiles and excellence in textile manufacture as the industrialists of the 19th century took advantage of the soft water supplies and growing wool and cloth trade.  The origins of the present day Bulmer & Lumb Group lie in an offshoot of the Smith Bulmer spinning company, managed by Sir William Bulmer, based in Holmfield, Halifax. The company opened a dyehouse there in 1920, to enable them to concentrate on spinning coloured yarns. 

The company continued to grow throughout the 1930s and 40s, and Bulmer & Lumb acquired an excellent reputation for coloured worsted spun yarns. During these years, as demand for UK manufactured textiles increased, the company bought a number of other mills across Bradford and the wider area. 

Trading off its Top Dyeing expertise the company began producing coloured tops for both home and overseas markets, which  continues to be an important part of the business. As the business grew plans were made to construct a new single storey site at Buttershaw.

Work began on the 42 acre site in 1957, and in 1960 dyeing started at the new purpose built mill that the company still occupies today. 

The 1980s saw a general slowdown across the entire UK textile industry, and  in 1986 the Bulmer  family exited the textile industry when the business was bought by Allied Textiles PLC. Over the next 10 years, the site added yarn package dyeing capabilities alongside its top dyeing and purchased the synthetic top making arm of the Sir James Hill Group.

The new Millennium saw a major change following a management buyout which established a new company known as “The Bulmer & Lumb Group Ltd”.  The business was still headquartered at Buttershaw, but over the next few years became a fully vertical mill.

Over the last couple of decades the Bulmer and Lumb Group has worked hard to build on its excellent reputation and consolidate the business;  concentrating on its core skills of wet processing and colouration, adding carding and scouring facilities to the site. During this period a far greater effort has been made in managing energy and minimising any impact activities have on the environment. We were one of the first textile companies in the UK to be awarded an IPPC certification.   

With continued investment in both skills and equipment, we look forward to the next 100 years of activity in the UK as a leading textile manufacturer.