ALTHOUGH it closed in 2006, The Richmond’s Gas Stove Co Ltd still holds great memories for many a Warrington resident.

Many started their working lives on the assembly line at the incredibly busy Richmond Gas Stove Co Ltd in Latchford close to the Manchester Ship Canal. Joining more than 1,000 people, they would hand craft and produce 600 gas cookers a day.

Richmonds provided one of the highest paid jobs in Warrington in the 1950s so it was the perfect opportunity for all kinds of trades and people.

Richmonds cookers were exported across the world with markets in place as far flung as the US and South Africa.

While the company was based in Latchford, it was known as the Grappenhall works.

And, like many works at the time, it offered it staff and wide and varied social life.

There were snooker competitions, horticultural competitions, angling, tennis, cricket and more.

The first gas cooker was sold in 1840 while Richmonds in Warrington was established in 1890.

The Fletcher, Russell and Co firm was established earlier in Warrington in 1878.

Around the turn of the 20th century, Richmond ovens were 'the' item to have.

The New World model was first introduced in the late 1940s as the company increasingly became a worldwide name, helped by nits location next to the Manchester Ship Canal.

Richmonds, or New World as the firm would later be known, was an iconic landmark within Warrington, but after being closed in 2006 to build apartments, its memory remained in the Richmonds Social Club. However, in 2019 the club announced it was to close.

And apartments have now also been built on that land.