Dominion Print has come a long way from its lowly beginnings in a converted Methodist chapel in a small suburb outside of Bradford. Set up on a shoe string by founder and MD, Dominic Clark in 1983, the business set its sights on the Litho side of print but quickly recognised the virtues of what was, in those days, very much the ‘niche’ market of large format print.
Keeping with the ecclesiastical theme, the business soon moved to a larger church property, installing their first ‘monster’ press, a semi-auto Kippax screen print line, offering a massive 20’ x 6’ print capacity in one pass along with other, slightly smaller 3/4matic and auto screen presses. Despite the necessity to ‘post’ the huge screens through giant ‘postboxes’ from the screen room on the first floor to the print room on the ground, these machines kept the business in the fore-front of large format for many years.
With the onset of digital print, Dominion were quick to install a 5m Vutek with a 3m Nur coming in fast behind and as business picked up further and faster the business upped sticks and in 2002 they re-located once more, this time to a 60,000FT2 factory at the end of the M606. Year one saw the installation of the mammoth M & R in-line printer which looked as much like an aircraft carrier as a print line and which was capable of printing 5 colours, in line, to a size of 12’ x 5’ in one pass.
Since then the Company has continued to expand and invest in the latest equipment, adding faster and better quality digital print, flat bed digital and dye sub lines to the plant and more investment in state of the art equipment is currently under way, ensuring that Dominion continue to be the UK’s most customer focused print solutions provider, offering exceptional quality, service and innovation as standard.
In 1983 a fresh faced Dominic Clark moved a couple of aged litho presses into a small converted chapel in the Heaton district of Bradford and Dominion Print was born. It didn’t take long for Dominic to spot the niche market of ‘Large Format’ print and the rapid replacement of the litho presses and large format screen presses quickly followed.
The converted chapel was soon out-grown and, maintaining the ecclesiastical feel, Dominion gathered-up its goods and chattels and moved into a much larger converted church just a few miles away. Elaine joined the business in the early 1990s and they eventually moved into the church alongside the business… Soon the operation experienced some growing pains…one due to the sheer size of screens required and the difficulty in moving them from the screen prep area on the first floor to the print departments in the basement and ground floor…the solution? the construction of giant ‘slots’ in the floors so the 23’ x 8’ screens could be ‘posted’ from one floor to the other. Genius! A further ‘growing pain’ was the imminent arrival of Verity in 1996 – but more of that later. In 2002 Dominion moved to its current home at Carrwood House where Tom joined in 2009, followed by Verity in 2012, making Dominion a genuine ‘family affair’.
