KENT Blaxill is one of Colchester’s oldest businesses having been first established as far back as 1838.

And these images taken throughout its many decades show how it has been very much part of the community.

Employing generations of the town’s residents and regularly taking part in carnivals and events Kent Blaxill started out as an oil and glass business on the High Street, later expanding across sixteen sites across the East of England and offering a host of materials and services from ironmongery to building supplies.

In 1963 it also became a kitchen and bathroom specialist, moving from the High Street to its purpose-built site at Layer Road.