It was in 1925 that Harry Adey founded H. Adey and Sons, an ironmongers shop at 7a Nottingham Road in Loughborough and with the help of his wife May Adey began supplying household items such as fixings, cookware and tools. Before long the shop had forged a reputation as a specialist in the supply and maintenance of tools and ironware to the building and farming trades.
It was from this base and the purchase of a small workshop at the back of the existing shop that H. Adey and Sons began to carry out small scale steel fabrication. In 1931 Arthur Adey joined his mother and father in the business at the age of 15, which saw the steel fabrication side of the business flourish. By his early 20’s Arthur Adey had expanded the business considerably which was now specialising in the supply and installation of steelwork to the construction industry. By the Mid 1940’s the second of the sons Jack Adey joined the business and began to help run the ironmongers shop while Arthur further developed the steel fabrication side.
In 1962 Arthur’s son Garry Adey joined the business and later in 1979 Jacks son Raymond Adey completed the arrival of the 3rd generation. With the input of these further family members both business divisions saw independent development. In 1989 the two divisions de-merged to form two independent companies. The ironmongers shop continued trading under the name of H. Adey and Sons and was run by Jack and Raymond Adey while the Steel Fabrication Company took the name Adey Steel Ltd and was run by Arthur and Garry Adey.
Adey Steel Ltd continued to grow and after many extensions to its facilities at Sparrow Hill and renting of nearby factories, it relocated to its current site on Meadow Lane on the outskirts of Loughborough in 2000. Adey Steel Ltd saw further internal de-mergers in 2001 when SteelShop Ltd was formed as a separate company specialising in metal processing and heavy fabrication. These two companies along with Transport 24 and their holding company Adey Holdings Ltd now form what is today The Adey Group. Garry Adey is now Chairman of the Adey Group with son Andrew Adey having joined the company in 2003 as the 4th generation in over 80 years of trading.
