Bath engineering company rolls out final steel framework

A Somerset engineering company will roll out its final large steel framework after 40 years of trading.

Owner of M&B Engineering, Gerald Matthews, 84, is getting ready to shut up shop and retire on 6 May.

The Bath firm has supplied crane beams and large steel constructions, including work for the MoD and Airbus.

Mr Matthews left school in Bath with no qualifications and built his company from the ground up.

Nicky Marshall, Mr Matthew's daughter, said she never thought he would close.

"For 10 years I've been saying you've got a life to live", she said.

He started with £1,000 after completing an apprenticeship and went looking for a workshop, finding a room next to the sugar factory in Bristol.

"That was hard work, one little room to do this type of work", Mr Matthews said.

He then went on to buy the yard for the company from Bell Engineering.

But it was not always smooth sailing, with the business constantly running with a £50,000 overdraft.

"To carry that and know sometimes you haven't got the funds to back it up, you've got to work through it, it's been hard", Mr Matthews said.

"My wife said, I never want our son to run this place because she saw what I went through."

Mr Matthews and his wife Pat are looking forward to holidaying in the Caribbean once he retires.

Engineer Andrew Curtis said it had been the same team at M&B Engineering for 40 years.

"I knew it was coming but when it happens it hits you like a tonne of bricks.

"Bath used to have a lot of engineering in it but it's all vanished now, the students have just taken over", he said.

Ms Marshall said she was very proud of her father.

"They've built something massive here.

"Can you imagine, no qualifications, coming out with an apprenticeship and building this?"

"When the last load goes out, it just gives you goose-bumps", Ms Marshall said.

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