FEW businesses these days can look back 100 years of continually changing enterprise, but that’s what Thomas Potter Ltd did in February 1959.
The Bridgeton company, which was handed down from father to son was officially described as “ engineers’ and shipbuilders’ and public works contractors’ furnishers” - which meant it sold everything from small nuts and bolts to an Overseer truck with a 40ft steel tower.
It started life as a mill furnisher and ironmonger in the 1850s when weaving was still one of the principal industries in the West of Scotland.
But as the textiles work moved south, Thomas Potter saw the growth in shipbuilding and engineering as a prime market for items it could supply, such as rivets.
At one time the firm even owned its own bolt works at Rutherglen and later Scotia Works at Rutherglen.
Work offered by the Forth Bridge, the London Underground and Glasgow Subway, then during the wars kept the business thriving, while hydro electric schemes also needed their wares.
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