The Whitechapel Bell Foundry , the UK’s oldest manufacturing company, is now selling online.
The company was first established in 1570 and moved to its current premises in 1670. During its long history it has cast such famous bells as the original Big Ben and the Liberty Bell, symbol of American independence. Today the family-owned business is run by Alan and Kathryn Hughes.
Now online shoppers can buy a range of bells, from handbells to door bell systems, from the company’s online shop, after the company moved online through Tictail, the Swedish start-up which now supports 30,000 ecommerce shops.
“Tictail approached us and said they were a new, free online shop and I thought ‘nothing to lose really,” foundry director Kathryn Hughes told The Guardian.
“The sort of things we’re selling start with our smallest bell, which can be used for ringing for tea, that sort of thing. Then there’s our table bell, our bracket bells – the sort used in school playgrounds – and doorbells. People are into doorbells at the moment, real ones, not buzzy ones.”
