Avon Rubber

Avon Rubber PLC

Type	Public (: )
Industry	Manufacturing
Founded	Limpley Stoke (1885 (1885))
Headquarters	Melksham, Wiltshire, England
Key people	David Evans Chairman
Products	Rubber and polymer-based products for personal protection (industrial and defence) and dairy
Revenue	£140 million
Number of employees	Approx. 800
Website	www.avon-rubber.com

Avon Rubber PLC is a manufacturer of rubber-based products for the manufacturing sector. It is a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index. Its largest divisions, namely Avon Protection Systems and Milk-Rite produce equipment and components for the armed forces, first response emergency services and the dairy/agricultural sectors, among others.

Its corporate headquarters are located 3 km (1.9 mi) south of Melksham in Wiltshire, England, at the Hampton Park West development. Avon's research and design expertise is supported by ARTIS and locations throughout USA.

Avon products include CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear) battlefield respirators, emergency response respirators, dairy milking liners, speed humps, aircraft chocks and tiling for military submarines.

In 1885 Messrs E G Browne and J C Margetson acquired a cloth mill, known as Avon Mill, on the banks of the River Avon at Limpley Stoke. The owners of the mill had been timber merchants, but had later diversified into the production of rubber goods.

By 1890 the business had transferred to premises in Melksham in Wiltshire. Products at this time included solid tyres, conveyor belts and components for railways. By 1900 pneumatic tyres for bicycles were being produced, and by 1906 the first car tyres were advertised. In 1915 the company acquired Greenland Mill in Bradford on Avon (Wiltshire). In 1933 the company was floated on the .

In 1956 the rival company of George Spencer Moulton (founded in 1848) was acquired, bringing with it Abbey Mills and Kingston Mills in Bradford on Avon, and a jointly owned plant in Paris. In 1959 production started on a range of inflatable boats.