History of the company

In 1904 a young man named Fred Wallis joined the small firm of Glynn Brothers, Builders and Plumbers Merchants of Birmingham.

Initially Glynn Brothers had been a distributor of engineering and plumbing materials but in 1921 Mr Wallis turned his attentions to manufacturing. He acquired a site in Wednesbury and constructed a lead pipe extrusion plant and a warehouse to accommodate the substantial tonnage of steel tube that was being handled. The company was named ‘The Wednesbury Tube Company’ and between them, Glynn Brothers and Wednesbury Tube became the founding members of the Glynwed Group of companies.

In 1931 construction began nearby on the current site at Bilston.

In the 1940s and 50s, the Bilston site covering 17 acres was developed specifically for the manufacture of copper tube with a foundry, casting plant, extrusion presses and drawbenches.

In 1966 Wednesbury Tube was instrumental in the development of bendable, thin wall copper tube which became the British Standard BS 2871 Part 1 Table X and is now known as European Standard BS EN1057 R250 ‘Black Label’.

In 1997 the company was purchased by Mueller Industries Inc. (USA). In the last few years the company has undergone a major investment program to renew all manufacturing plant and machinery with the best available technology. Wednesbury Tube now has one of the most modern, efficient facilities for the production of copper tubes in the entire world.