Salts Mill was reborn from the late 1980s onwards as a centre for innovative industrial, recreational and cultural businesses. The story of this renaissance would not be complete without an account of PACE Micro Technology Limited, one of the earliest, and largest, tenants of the mill.
Mike Farren has now provided that account. His in-depth research, including interviews with the three founding directors of PACE, can be read over several web pages starting below.
Alternatively, a PDF of the entire article is available for a small charge in our online shop.
Introduction and acknowledgements
The Saltaire Collection is not confined to Victorian history and the collection’s historians and writers are recording the important stories of the twentieth and twenty first centuries. Amongst these, second only in importance to the history of Jonathan Silver, his family, and the rescue and transformation of Salts Mill, is the story of one of Jonathan’s first tenants in the mill. The tenant company was PACE Micro Technology Ltd.
PACE was founded by three individuals living and working in the Bradford District: David Hood, Rob Fleming, and Barry Rubery. David had the visionary ideas; Rob was the logistics expert; and Barry a skilled sales expert. They were joined later by Graham Mitchell whose engineering expertise was invaluable to the company’s growth and product range. Others who became important members of the staff team and partners in business are noted.
From its foundation in 1982, whilst the first directors were operating from David Hood’s bedroom in Scholemoor, PACE commenced business selling Apple II computer software in the UK, purchased at lower prices from Europe, then began the manufacture of data communication modems and later satellite TV receivers and Video Recorders, all products that were previously either unavailable or too costly for the UK market, rapidly establishing themselves at the forefront of the digital revolution.
By the late 1990s and into the 21st century, PACE was collaborating with major, well-known tech giants such as BSkyB and Amstrad. This local business had become an international multi-million-pound enterprise and its founders mirror the important part played by Sir Titus Salt during the earlier industrial revolution.
Two of the three founders of PACE have enabled this significant history to be recorded through participating in interviews with Mike Farren and Maggie Smith, and by sharing their own archived documents, images, and promotional materials. Barry Rubery, who now resides in Monaco, is writing a book covering many details of the business and is generously sharing draft chapters to add further detail and his memories to this history.
The impact of the company for Saltaire was not least in the provision of employment and at its manufacturing peak, PACE was employing 400 engineers, 450 staff in manufacturing and 70 in sales and accounts in Salts Mill.
The history of PACE is a story of significant local entrepreneurship, determination, and vision and, at the heart of its growth and importance, is both the courage and foresight of its local founders and its eventual location in Salts Mill.
Acknowledgements
With grateful thanks to the founding directors of PACE, who shared memories and notes.
David Hood – PACE Joint Chief Executive
Barry Rubery – PACE Joint Chief Executive
Rob Fleming – PACE Operations Director.
Author
Mike Farren, May 2021
Background
The company that was to become PACE Micro Technology Ltd, (Ultimately PACE plc) was founded in 1982 and began literally in David Hood’s bedroom, Scholemoor, Bradford.
David Hood had started his working life at a place in Brighouse called Stereosound Productions, as an apprentice. It was an audio / hi-fi manufacturer and he moved to Baird in the development laboratory at the time colour television became available. Baird was later known as Thorn, a television manufacturer at Beckside Road, Bradford.
Whilst David was working at Baird Television he was introduced to Barry (Rubery) through friends, several years prior to the foundation of PACE. Barry had a job as a salesman for Associated Container Transportation Ltd. (ACT) Their first meeting occurred when they went with a mutual friend to see The Canadian Hell Drivers at Odsal Stadium! Subsequently, they went caving and potholing together in the Yorkshire Dales and also often cycled together.
David was at Baird for a few years, then left to set up a company called Entasy Colourvision at Mountain Mills, above Queensbury, repairing and renting out TV sets and supplying ‘slot’ televisions. These were very helpful for some families, who were able to effectively rent a television by putting coins in a meter on the back of the TV in order to watch programmes. On a staged basis, the money was taken out of the apparatus and the families received a rebate.
While David was working for Baird, the company had stockpiled a lot of colour TVs that were unlikely to go back into service. David did a deal to buy some of this stockpile and, by incorporating an off the shelf tuner and reconditioning the cabinets, enabled them to be rented.
Mountain Mills was run down but served its purpose for the business. It consisted of a ground floor area, which was a little damp, and a room above this, of identical size, where the work was done. The only way to access the upper room was via a conveyor belt running at an angle from the ground floor to the upper floor!