Print Works Part 4: Working In The Print Industry

There were a variety of jobs in the pre-digital printing industry, meaning works like the Thanet Press employed large numbers, and needed specialist suppliers so supported small printers, bookbinders, and other trades locally. The key jobs, as a compositor laying out type, proof reading pages, or working with the machines, were highly skilled.  A printer's … Continue reading Print Works Part 4: Working In The Print Industry

Print Works Part 1: Forgotten Industry on the Isle of Thanet

Each town on the Isle of Thanet is distinct. Ramsgate has its Royal Harbour, and is still an active port for pleasure craft, and the rugged boats that service the offshore windfarms north of Margate. Broadstairs is the quintessential seaside town, a curve of beach at the break in the chalk cliffs, with the town … Continue reading Print Works Part 1: Forgotten Industry on the Isle of Thanet

The History Of Printing in Union Crescent, Margate: Part 1

The story of The Thanet Press starts not in Union Crescent, but at 4 Queen Street, the home of Margate stationery store Robinson & Co.  A door away from Robinson's was a drapery business, Smeed's - on the corner of High Street and Queen Street. The business had been established in 1869.  In 1887 Frederick … Continue reading The History Of Printing in Union Crescent, Margate: Part 1