In 1875, William John Potts established W J Potts & Son and began trading from the Atlas Printing and Publishing Works on the corner of Union and Camden Street, North Shields.
John Dryden Potts was running the company in 1910, renaming it John D Potts and moving to Little Bedford Street, North Shields. His son George joined the company in 1930.
The business was incorporated as
Potts Printers Limited in 1954, with George Potts as Managing Director.
Stuart Couch, future Chairman, joined as an apprentice compositor in 1950, becoming General Manager in 1965 and Works Director in 1970.
In the mid 1970's, Stuart Couch was appointed Managing Director and the company relocated to Waterville Road, North Shields.
The current Chairman and Chief Executive Michael Sandford-Couch, son of Stuart, joined the company in 1985 and took control in 1995.
In 1998 the company invested in pre-press, new presses and automatic finishing equipment, achieving sales of £1million. Over the following five years the company grew to 75 employees, with a turnover of £4.5million.
During 2004-2005 a Heidelberg six-colour press was purchased, and the company was accredited with ISO9001, ISO14001 and OHSAS18001 certification.
In 2006 the company moved to a new 100,000 sq ft HQ and print facility named Atlas House, in Nelson Park, Cramlington, and purchased a Roland 700 B1 press.
In November 2010 Potts Printers Limited was rebranded Potts Print (UK) Ltd.
As of July 2011 the company utilises 3 Heidelberg and 3 Roland multicolour printing presses, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Profitable Sales turnover is likely to exceed £14million in 2011.
