Castmaster Roll née Davy Roll, Sheffield.
Visited with Speed.
Some history for those who are interested:
Visited with Speed.
Some history for those who are interested:
A Sheffield manufacturing firm that collapsed into administration with the loss of nearly 80 jobs owes more than £500,000 to creditors, it has been revealed. More than 140 local and national companies are owed money in the wake of the collapse of Castmaster Roll, based at the Eagle Foundry in Attercliffe. The business went into administration in October and as no new buyer could be found, all 78 workers have lost their jobs and the firm’s assets are being sold.
The firm had reported a trading loss for three years in a row before going into administration, including a £400,000 loss for the year ending January 31, 2014. Details included in the papers of administrator KPMG show £502,353 was owed to different companies at the time of administration.
The report said delayed and non-payment of invoices had put the company under ‘significant pressure from its creditors’ in the months prior to administration. A report also reveals that between KPMG’s appointment in October and December 5, it claimed costs of more than £324,000 for handling the administration.
KPMG said it is uncertain how much money – if any – will be returned to unsecured creditors as a sale of assets is yet to be concluded. Administrators have also said they are ‘continuing to assess the causes of the company’s failure’. It comes after Sheffield MP Clive Betts called for a ‘thorough investigation’ into how Castmaster Roll failed. The Sheffield South East MP said staff had told him the company appeared to be in good shape before it went into administration. He said: “I’m calling on the administrators to undertake a thorough investigation into how a company with good order books and more orders coming through the door has sadly managed to get into such difficulties.”
The firm produced iron and steel quality rolls, discs and sleeves for the manufacturing and food processing industry. The Stevenson Road site began making gas lamps more than a century ago and became a roll maker about 95 years ago. It was known as the Davy Roll company but, after going into receivership, it was reborn as Castmaster Roll in the mid-2000s, taken over by new owner Mel Farrar.
We actually checked this out on the spur of the moment back in May, but at that point it was unclear whether or not the factory had actually closed. It probably would have been doable, but we had bigger fish to fry so decided to fob it off and return at a later date when it was more clear what was going on. A couple of weeks later I stumbled across an online auction catalogue with pictures of pretty much every piece of equipment and machinery in the place, and, if you looked very carefully, you could see enamel lampshades in the background, which everyone knows is the hallmark of quality. Sold!
Inside it was actually much better than we were expecting. Whilst the machine shop has been totally stripped, the foundry side of things seems to be a lot more intact and old fashioned. However the real highlight is the fantastic first aid room. stuffed full of crazy medical crap and surely one of the best I've seen. There's also a nice bathhouse, a few labs/offices and an air raid shelter knocking about the place, which is more than enough to keep you occupied for an afternoon.
Some pictures:
Nice to see the hood still in place in the foundry:
Furnaces:
Under the furnaces:
A cantilvered staircase to the offices, surely overengineered:
First aid room:
Air raid shelter: