A Brief Company History

The company was started by Capt. P.B. Lewis & Mr R. J. Henry in 1946 after they had finished their service in the Army after WW2. They were initially involved with demolition of houses and factories and also mulberry harbours. Recovered timber was utilized to make products such as garden sheds and equipment for funfairs and circus'.

We made all the pay boxes for the Festival of Great Britain in 1951 and manufactured grandstand seating, which was sold and hired out to venues across the U.K.  Our relationship with event organisers throughout the country grew, leading to the company manufacturing marquees and circus tents, which allowed us to provide a complete show package of marquees and seating.

In the late 70's the overall success of the company's efforts led to it being split with Chichester Canvas specialising  in marquee hire and manufacture and Austen Lewis adopting the seating business.

Chichester Canvas went on to move premises in the 1980's to our present location just outside Chichester, which gave us much needed space for expanding the business. In 2001 we became part of the Pridewatch Events Group which gave us access to the funding and stronger management team required to be a major player in the industry and achieve a current hire turnover of £1.75m. within its marquee division.