Rose of Colchester Limited still designs and prints branded calendars from its Colchester factory, with a public push on UK manufacture and on-site solar.
For local firms looking past digital-only advertising, one long-running Colchester manufacturer still bets on something customers hang on a wall for twelve months.
Rose of Colchester Limited, trading as Rose Calendars, is an Active private limited company (Companies House number 00575231), incorporated on 5 December 1956. Its registered office is Clough Road, Severalls Industrial Estate, Colchester, Essex, CO4 9QT. The company lists SIC 32990 (other manufacturing not elsewhere classified). Public contact details on its site include telephone 01206 844500.
The firm’s public site presents Rose Calendars as a UK designer, publisher and printer of promotional and branded calendars, plus related branded diaries and notebooks. It states that the business was founded by George Rose in 1908, and that the current managing director, Michael Rose, is a later-generation family member (the site describes him as George’s great-great-nephew). A company history piece published for its centenary also says Michael joined in 1991 as the fourth generation in the business. Treat those heritage details as the company’s own published account.
What matters for Colchester readers is the operational footprint. Rose says calendars are designed and made at its Colchester factory, with UK dispatch framed as a way to avoid import delays. Product pages advertise low minimum order quantities (from 25 on some lines), free advert artwork and proofing on promotional ranges, and formats from wall and desk calendars to planners and bespoke work. That is useful for small Essex businesses that want a branded giveaway without a huge print run.
Sustainability is a standing part of the public pitch. Rose’s site promotes solar-powered production, carbon-neutral deliveries as standard, and (on some product pages) zero waste to landfill. A company news article describes a 50 kW rooftop array of 198 photovoltaic panels at the Severalls factory, presented as the first solar installation on Severalls Business Park, with the firm expecting lower grid power use and CO2 emissions. In that piece, managing director Michael Rose is quoted: “We are proud to be leading the way in reducing our environmental impact by using solar energy in the production of our promotional calendars. This is another vital step in our strategy to be environmentally friendly.” Figures and claims in that article are the company’s; they have not been independently re-audited here.
Customer proof on the homepage includes published testimonials from Hannah Marriage (W & H Marriage & Sons) and Reuben Bolton (Bolton Bros Recycling), both pointing to calendars as year-round brand presence, with Bolton also citing environmental responsibility.
For Colchester’s business community, Rose is a concrete example of specialised manufacturing still based in the borough: a Severalls print plant selling practical promotional stock to UK customers, with a clear public address, Active Companies House status, and an official site that sets out products, heritage and green measures without needing guesswork.
