A graphic display specialist is celebrating 125 years in business and planning a year of activities as it reaches the milestone anniversary.

Bradley-based Leach – which has rebranded to operate under the names Leach Impact and Leach Inspire – creates graphic displays and display structures for some of the world’s biggest household names and most recognisable UK visitor attractions.

The business was formed in 1891 by Arthur Holdsworth Leach, who began running a photographic studio in Brighouse.

By 1895 the entrepreneurial Leach had become the first ever company to offer life size enlargements printed in one whole piece.

The firm, which is still family-owned and has a £10m turnover, has already celebrated its big birthday with a party for staff held at Halifax’s Dean Clough Mills – chosen because Arthur Leach’s father used to work in the mill.

It was there that he saved just enough money to help his son set up the company that still bears his name today.

Throughout the anniversary year, Leach Inspire – the exhibition graphics and visitor environments specialists – has invested in it’s new studio division where a creative team of design experts specialises in museums, heritage sites and visitor attractions.

The firm has also marked the anniversary by investing in an industry-leading five-metre digital printing press, becoming one only a few companies in the world to be able to produce prints as large as 20m x 5m in a single piece, without the need for a join at a quality level suitable for close range viewing.

Managing director Richard Leach, great grandson of the founder, said: “As a business, we’ve never been afraid to try new things, to enter new territories and to experiment with the capabilities of display technologies.

“These principles have served us well and we’re all absolutely thrilled to be celebrating 125 years of Leach.

“In transforming from a photography business to a graphic printer and then to an interior display specialist, we have shown the ability to adapt and innovate to survive over 12 decades – something I know our founding father, Arthur Leach would be incredibly proud of.

“I have a firm belief that happy customers who come back for more and whose positive experiences enhance our reputation are the bedrock for a sustainable, secure business; one which I’m confident will survive and prosper for another century.”

Leach Impact, the retail arm of the business, designs, manufactures and installs interior graphics and graphic display structures for clients such as Topshop, HSBC, Gap, Mamas and Papas and BMW.

Leach Inspire specialises in bringing visitor attractions to life through the design, production, and implementation of inspiring visitor environments such as the Titanic Experience, Victoria and Albert Museum, London’s Sealife Aquarium and the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Centre.