Fredrick Edwin Thompson ( grandfather ) was a plumber during the war. He formed Thompson & Leigh soon after the war in 1946 to supply plumbing & sanitary ware to the building trade.
The original premises were at 272 Broadway, Bexleyheath. Douglas B. Thompson joined T&L in 1955 after serving in the RAF.
The company started to make fireplaces in a small lock up and after a few months moved to premises at Harrow Manorway, Abbey Wood in 1947/8 producing over 100 per week selling to local authorities and builders.
The plumbing supply side expanded and bought the premises next to 272 and soon after built a warehouse to accommodate the increasing stock levels, also a small unit was built behind the warehouse. The turnover soon exceeded £300,000.
Due to ill health Fredrick E. Thompson decided to sell the company. The plumbing side was sold to J H Sankey in 1966. Douglas B. Thompson stayed on with Sankey and ran the South East Region for 10 years turning over £30 million before joining the main board as operations director. J H Sankey (part owned by the Coal Board) was sold in 1983/1984.
Douglas B. Thompson & Pamela Thompson decided to return to selling plumbing, heating & sanitaryware to the trade and formed Thompson & Leigh as it is now. They opened a warehouse in Crayford ideally located being close to the Black Prince interchange and just 5 minutes from the Dartford tunnel. Accounts with major suppliers like Armitage Shanks ,Wavin Plastics (Osma ) and like were opened. Two further units were then added on to T&L in the same estate within 2-3 years. Ian Thompson joined the company soon after the formation and David Thompson a few years later. In the late 80's T&L supplied to builders like New Ideal Homesteads ( through Pritchard ) Alvid Estates and many smaller house builds. It was and still is to employ very experienced staff. All accounts have easy access to the directors should any problems arise.
Ian & David Thompson now run six Thompson & Leigh branches consisting of four trade counter's and two 4000sq foot bathroom showrooms.
