Where It All Began

Gallery

If you’re interested in the background of Croxsons, then you’re in the right place! Scroll across to view our family history, and scroll down to see the heritage of the company, complete with a timeline of key events

Scroll Across

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

Croxsons is one of the UK’s oldest independent glass bottle businesses. Our proud 150 year history dates back to 1872 when William Croxson established his wholesale bottle merchant business in London. With the family name and family business going as strong as ever, we’ve seen a huge evolution of the company, especially over the last 40 years. Building on the vision of our Chairman, we are now well-established as an international expert in single-source, multi-choice glass packaging.

Today, Croxsons is a truly international company. No matter where our customers are based, we provide the same standard of service through our global connections, strategically positioned in Europe, Australasia, the Far East and America. We have come a long way.

FOUNDED – 1872

WILLIAM CROXSON – 1872

Where it all began. William Croxson established his wholesale bottle merchant business in London, and we haven’t looked back since.

VIRGIN GLASS – 1904

Here we began not only cleaning bottles, but also buying in virgin glass. We were buying from a company called Rockware. They’re now Ardagh Glass – and we’re still dealing with them today.

FIRST EXPORT – 1920

First export on records. Randolph Croxson sailed to New Zealand representing England in a sports game (unknown but likely ice skating or snooker) and saw the bottles on the quayside upon arrival. It took about 8 weeks to get there; now it takes about 24 hours.

FIRST IS MACHINE – 1924

Glass-making pioneer Henry W. Ingle creates the first IS (individual section) machine. A new automation standard.

MODERN MACHINERY – 1968

At this stage we had over 60 staff in Bermondsey. Modern machinery meant we had to reduce it to about 30. We still have one piece of that machinery working today.

FIRST JARS SOLD – 1976

Our first jars sold – one pallet into the back of a Volvo Estate. This client is now buying over 40m jars!

MOVED INTO ALPHA PLACE – 1985

Croxsons bought Alpha Place – our current HQ – in June 1985.

BUYING FROM JAPAN – 1986

We first started buying from Japan.

TOPPED 100 MILLION BOTTLES – 1996

Our first very big UK deal, topping over 100 million bottles. We also started buying in the Far East.

MIDDLE EAST – 1998

Next, the Middle East. We first started buying here.

BOTTLE PARTNERSHIP – 1999

Quinn Glass (now Encirc) started a new factory in Derrylin, Ireland and we ordered our first moulds from them before manufacturing commenced. We still buy those bottles – around 200 million in total.

TIM CROXSON JOINS – 2000

New millennium, new face. The year that Tim joined us.

GONE GLOBAL – 2001

About 15 years ago we hit 150m bottles for a global customer. The purchasing was done in New Zealand – probably the biggest deal done outside of the UK.

BRAND REFRESH – 2006

When we rebranded. Fresh look, fresh sales.

NEW LOOK WITH TRADITIONAL VALUES – 2016

Our new positioning statement ‘ A Family of packaging’, references both our unbeatable range of products and the fact that our highly-valued customers are part of our extended family.

The Croxsons logo has been brought up-to-date with a contemporary typeface and new green colour. This has been complemented with the William Croxson signature as a sign of approval.

QUEENS AWARD – 2019

Croxsons win a Queen’s Award for Enterprise, recognised for its excellence in international trade, which saw the firm return continuous growth in overseas sales for the past six years.