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.
Pamela Thompson sadly passed away at home on Tuesday 16th February 2021. Our thoughts are with Douglas, their two sons David and Ian and their four grandchildren, Sky, Jack, Emily and Robbie xxx
