Coalite - The Coalite Company

The Coalite Company

Coalite was manufactured by the Low Temperature Carbonisation Company, which established a manufacturing plant at Buttermilk Lane, Bolsover, Derbyshire in 1936. At the time it was the largest one of its type in the world. Plants were also opened later in Askern and Rossington near Doncaster and at Grimethorpe in South Yorkshire. The coal oil and liquor from these plants was processed at the central refinery at the Bolsover plant. The ovens continued producing Coalite until the Bolsover works closed down in 2004.

By 1939 the company was producing a low octane petrol called "Coalene" as well as diesel and other fuel oils. It continued to do so through the 2nd World War and into the early 60s. It supplied fuel to the RAF and Royal Navy during the war, allegedly keeping 12 squadrons flying and 2 battleships sailing.

In 1948 the company changed its name to the Coalite Chemical Company to reflect the diversified nature of the business.

In 1952 the registered Head office address was moved from London to Bolsover

In 1956 after the introduction of the Clean Air Act 1956 Coalite was licensed as an "authorised fuel". Demand increased and the company expanded accordingly.

The Group consisted of several companies in the 1950-60s, with a Francis L. Waring, F.Inst.F. as Managing Director of this group of companies;

• Coalite and Chemical Products Limited, (the holding company)
• Doncaster Coalite Limited,
• The Derbyshire Coalite Co.Ltd, (ran the solid fuel production at Bolsover)
• The British Diesel Oil & Petrol Co. (ran the refinery at Bolsover)
• The South Wales Coalite Co. Ltd.
• London Coalite Ltd.

In 1978 the company merged with the Charringtons Coke distribution company and with this they acquired the Falkland Islands Company.

From 1980 the company owned a famous prize winning shire horse team.

From 1984 to 1989 Eric Varley, the ex labour minister was company chairman.

In 1986 the group acquired Hargreaves Fuel distribution services. This marked the zenith of the company's fortunes. The group was now at its most diverse and widespread, owning subsidiaries that were totally unrelated to its core business. These included sheep farming, Dormobile camper vans, Builders merchants, Pyrometer Instrument manufacturers, vehicle sales and many others as well as industrial land across the country.

From 1987 to 1991 the company sponsored Chesterfield F.C.

In 1989 The company was taken over by Anglo United,

From 1990 to 1992 The company sponsored World class snooker tournaments

In 1997 The Falkland Islands subsidiary was floated off and became an independent company again.

The solid fuel side of the business began to shrink in the 80s. There was falling demand for the product as cheaper natural gas gradually took over the domestic heating market. The Askern works closed in 1986 and Grimethorpe in 1994. From 1982 onwards there were several waves of redundancies.

As well as the reduced demand for solid fuel the slow demise of the company was accelerated after the Anglo takeover. During the 90s there were financial difficulties because the relatively small Anglo United had borrowed heavily from HSBC to buy the much larger Coalite group and had intended to service this debt by asset-stripping Coalite's many subsidiaries, selling them off whilst retaining the core business of solid fuel production. The sell-off did not realise as much cash as was required and even a raid on the company pension fund did little to reduce the debt. Weighed down by this debt and with little money for investment the company declined as it faced outside competition in a downturned agrochemical market. It was making losses of £2 million p.a.in the late 90s. At the same time it was embroiled in legal actions concerning land and river pollution and the resulting adverse publicity affected the sales of its products.

In 2002 Anglo was bought by a consortium of local businessmen. Any viable assets were covertly (but legally) moved into separate subsidiaries under the Anglo holding company. The remaining debts were left with the much diminished Coalite Chemicals Ltd which went into administration and then receivership, and finding no buyers, closed down finally in 2004, leaving a considerable number of redundant employees with much reduced pensions.