It was over 100 years ago in 1865 that a newly qualified chemist, Mr Samuel Kay, acquired premises at 7 Lower Hillgate, Stockport, and started in business as a pharmacist. One year later he was joined by his brother Thomas, then 22 years old, and so began a partnership that was to last almost 50 years and see many changes, but whose name is still alive after the millennium. They decided to name their business Kay Brothers Limited.
From the beginning the business flourished because both brothers, not content with just dispensing pills and medicines, had a flair for developing their own products, not only in the medical field but a whole range of other items which led them quickly into industrial and commercial markets. Their entrepreneurial skills and natural inventiveness brought early successes. Within two years of setting up their business they succeeded in developing a new transparent glue known as 'Coaguline' which won for Thomas and Samuel Kay a prize medal at an International Exhibition in Leeds in 1868. The new glue gained recognition for the brothers and their products, and in the same year premises next door at 9 Lower Hillgate were bought to keep pace with the expanding business.
During the next 5 years, Kay Brothers developed many of their medical products and became renowned nationally for Kay's Linseed Compound, Kay's Linum Catharticum Pills, Liver Pills, Cough Mixtures and Cold Cures. After a further period of development and progress, the business moved to St. Petersgate Mill in Stockport. These larger premises, with a shop and office frontage and factory building at the rear, were used for the production of a whole range of chemical and commercial products. The original premises at Lower Hillgate were retained, however, and used as a retail outlet.
As the end of the 19th Century approached, the product range had grown enormously - the following list indicates just some of the many products:
1868 Coaguline Glue (Royal Warranty Granted)
1872 Valves for feeding bottles
1873 Kay's Linseed Compound
1884 Fluid for cleaning and washing carriages
1895 Plaster of Paris developed
1898 Kay Brothers Soap
1898 Fly Paper and Fly Catchers
Both brothers, but certainly Thomas Kay, were great benefactors and patrons of the arts, and in 1903 they opened a trust fund of over £10,000 for the development of musical education in Stockport - this fund is still operational today. A few years later, when Thomas's only son Harold became director of the business, he presented his art collection to the local gallery and was made freeman of the borough, becoming in 1913 Mayor of Stockport.
As the years passed, both brothers gradual withdrew from the day to day running of the business, and Thomas died aged 73 in 1914. Tragically his son Harold had died the year before, and when Samuel Kay Died in 1917 aged 85, the last member of the Kay family on the Board of Directors had gone.
The company carried on despite this loss and continued to develop new products. Zip firelighters were developed in 1936, and a year later, when the company had again moved its premises - this time to the Kayborough Works in Reddish, a district of Stockport - 'Dirty Paws', a hand cleanser and a forerunner of the modern barrier cream, was introduced. The variety of products continued until the outbreak of war, when the company moved into the production of demolition charges, hand grenades and adhesives on bombs.
After the war, the company made an approach to the Bayer Organisation of Western Germany for the franchise to produce and market 'Moltopren", a new soft foam material developed by Bayer. The request was granted, and in 1953 a separate division began to produce and sell flexible polythene foam. This new division of he company was housed at Hollins Mill, Marple, and in 1959 became Kay Brothers Plastics Limited, a company in its own right. Both of the Kay Brothers companies were acquired by the Reckitt Colman Group in 1960, the plastics division primarily to make foam pads for the new Pad-a-Wax shoe cleaner.
In 1963 the company moved its operation to Bollington, into a purpose built factory on the site of the former Finespinners & Doublers Waterhouse Mill.
Kay Brothers Plastics Limited was taken over by the Metzeler Group of Western Germany in 1964, although it was not until four years later that the company was registered under its present name Kay-Metzeler Limited. In 1974 the whole of the Metzeler Group of companies was in turn taken over by Bayer AG, whose headquarters are in Leverhausen, Germany.
At the end of 1987, Kay-Metzeler and its immediate parent company, Metzeler Schaum GmbH, Germany joined the British Vita Group and has been operating as a full member of that group since then.
Current production carried out on the Bollington site is in both slabstock and moulded foam, with the main outlets being to the Furniture, Aircraft, Rail and Packaging industries.
Outlets for specialist type foam continues to grow, and although these represent only a relatively small part of the production, they are an important part of the overall production range.
Polystyrene production is now a significant proportion of the business and is carried out in Essex.
For information regarding the EPS Division, visit
www.kay-metzeler.com
Company History 
