DO you remember the big names in Maldon that MADE things?

Remember John Sadd & Sons (where my father worked from 1956 to 1978) which later became Boulton & Paul Ltd? Indeed, I worked there from 1975 to 1978. They made wooden and aluminium ladders, kitchen units, roof trusses, doors, windows, TV units and more.

Stella Components was another big name making all kinds of tubular items. Ever Ready, in Heybridge, made batteries, Bentalls made farm machinery and petrol engines, they even built cars.

Then there was Cooks Boatyard making Thames barges and launches until it closed in the 1980s, Gray’s Brewery and English Electric Valves.

These fine companies were the backbone of the town and everything to local employment and the local economy.

I’ll wager you wouldn’t find anyone who lives locally who didn’t know someone who worked at one of these big-name companies.

But time moves on and sadly we are not the makers of things like we used to be. Quest Motors, our only new car dealer, recently closed, moving to their Braintree branch. They will be missed in Maldon. I’ve bought just about all my cars there since 1985.

Sadly, these names only live on as road names (Quest Place), landmarks (the Bentalls Centre) or as material at the Museum in the Park (the John Sadd room).

Thank goodness we still have the world-famous Maldon Salt which has been producing salt since Roman times and is now in the hands of the fourth generation of the Osborne family. There’s sustainability for you.

Commercially, Maldon is still very successful with multiple food stores and they all seem to be busy all the time. Maldon has two successful breweries (Mighty Oak and Farmer’s Ales), industrial estates at West Station and the Causeway, retail parks attracting big names and cutting-edge tech firms at Oval Park.

The High Street has changed too with abundant food and drink establishments, but as always, it’s those small independent shops and businesses that catch your eye and go hand in glove with our biggest asset – tourism. I know we will soon be welcoming visitors returning to the district, bringing with them the promise of new business, more custom and more employment.

Maldon still has a number of empty premises crying out to be refurbished and re-opened. Any entrepreneurs out there, let’s do some business together!

Mark Heard

Maldon District Council chairman