The Wimbledon Print Company is a family-owned business established over 60 years ago and now run by Michael Woolsey; the third generation of Woolseys to be involved in printing in Wimbledon, London. The offices are now based at 257-261 Haydons Road, SW19 but in previous years have occupied different premises in the Morden and Merton area.
It owes a great deal to the determination and character of Elsie Woolsey, Michael’s grandmother who is now 93 and lives on the south coast. After the end of World War II, Elsie took in typing to boost the family income and from this small beginning the family business was born.
Elsie named her business Duplitype and ran it with husband Alec from premises above a shop in Morden. She spotted the potential for document copying and in 1948 procured a duplicating machine to expand the typing business. She continued with typing and duplicating all through the 1950s and into the early 1960s, when her son Ian Woolsey joined the business.
The 1960s and 1970s saw the heyday of document copying and litho printing, and specific business units were formed to service these distinct types of printing. Ian and his business partner Roland set up Rushmere printers in Merton Road and added the first litho print presses as well as book binding machines. When in the early 1970s demand outgrew this ground floor shop, another move was planned, this time to Quicks Road, where Wimbledon Copy Bureau was founded, and then to 257-261 Haydon’s Road, Wimbledon, where the company is based today.
The 90s also marked the arrival of the next generation of Woolseys into the business: Michael Woolsey. Michael saw that clients valued a consultative and problem-solving approach to print management, and added Creovation to the portfolio when he joined the business full time, after graduating in Computer Science from Sussex University in 2002. Graphic design was added as a service offering under the name of Creodesign. Michael also introduced an online printing portal which significantly enhanced the efficient management of routine print items such as business cards and flyers.
Corporate clothing, promotional items and architectural flat plan printing were also added to the product range.
In 2013, in order to keep pace with the challenges presented to traditional printers by the internet and greatly reduced in-house printing costs, these businesses were brought together under one name: The Wimbledon Print Company. The business continues to grow and add new services such as wiro binding and printing of display graphics on-site at Haydons Road.
The team includes:
• Michael Woolsey Managing Director
• Darren Brown Production Manager
• Betty Cockell Production and Customer Service
• Sonia Mirza Sales Executive & Order Management
• Tony Byrne Delivery Driver
• Melissa Woolsey Creative Director
• Christopher Lalande Graphic Designer
• Frederique Courreges Accounts
• Rachel Woolsey Clothing
• and not forgetting Osa, the resident German Shepherd.
