About Merrythought Bears 

Established in 1930, Merrythought is one of the oldest and most prestigious of England's toy manufacturers. For over 60 years the magic of Merrythought has delighted adults and children of all ages with a range of traditional hand crafted toys that are more than mere playthings.

A Merrythought bear is a joy forever - a treasured family friend to be passed down from generation to generation - a valued heirloom that is guaranteed to give year after year of lasting pleasure.

Merrythought is run by the three daughters, Sarah, Hannah and Sophie of Oliver Holmes, grandson of W.G. Holmes, who co-founded the company in 1930. This ongoing family connection has instilled loyalty among the staff and a genuine care about the quality of their products that has won affection and respect amongst collectors worldwide.

Their most distinctive, and possibly most popular design is the 'Cheeky' bear, which first appeared in Merrythought's 1957 catalogue. Cheeky bears have a bell in each of their low set ears, a unique muzzle and a wonderful smile. The Cheeky name is due to that impish grin.

The history of Merrythought

The history of Merrythought provides us with a fascinating insight into early 19th Century England - a period of considerable industrial change and development. Our story actually begins in 1919 when Mr B C Holmes (grandfather of the present Managing Director) went into partnership with a Mr G H I Laxton to open a spinning mill in Yorkshire, quite simply to manufacture mohair yarn from imported raw materials.

The introduction of synthetic fibres led to a decline in the demand for mohair fabric causing one of their yarn customers, Tyson Hall & Co Ltd of Bakersfield, to lose a considerable amount of business. Holmes and Laxton decided to buy Lyons plush weaving company and realised they had to find something to do with the mohair yarns.

The sales director of the combined companies knew two men who were to play a vital role in the development of Merrythought. Mr R Rendle was in charge of Production at Chad Valley and Mr A C Janisch in charge of sales at J K Farnell (another soft toy manufacturer). Both were keen to join Holmes and Laxton to produce Merrythought Toys and together arranged to rent space in one of Coalbrookdale's foundry buildings. In September 1930, Mr Rendle moved into the former social room of the Coalbrookdale Co, together with some workers from Chad Valley.

The home of Merrythought

Over the years the original Merrythought factory site at Coalbrookdale (now Ironbridge), which was purchased from the Coalbrookdale Co in 1965, has seen considerable improvement. New buildings have been added but the large brick building built by the iron foundry in 1898 is still used today to lovingly create each and every Merrythought Bear.

The Present Day

Oliver Holmes the original founder’s grandson joined the factory in 1972 after training as an engineer. Oliver worked alongside his father Trayton before taking over as Managing Director in the 1980s. Merrythought enjoyed further success in the 1990s with an increasing demand for Merrythought Bears in the USA, China and Japan. Merrythought had built a large following of collectors throughout the world. However, changes in the British economy began to take its toll on manufacturing in the mid 2000's. Increasing production costs and the increasing popularity of cheaper imports had a huge impact on the soft toy market. Merrythought was unable to compete with these foreign imports and after several difficult years Merrythought shut it's doors in 2006. There was an outcry from collectors across the world and in 2007 Oliver rallied loyal members of staff together in a bid to rebuild Merrythought back up, be it on a much smaller scale concentrating on traditional and collectable teddy bears.

In early 2011 Oliver was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and, after only a matter of weeks, died at home, aged just 60. His dedication to Merrythought was so strong that he worked up until three weeks before his death in denial of his illness, for fear that it might affect moral amongst staff. Merrythought remains a family business to this day with Oliver’s three daughters at the helm, Sarah, Hannah and Sophie Holmes. Oliver’s eldest daughter, Sarah, joined Merrythought as Marketing Manager in 2010 and now manages product development. Hannah, joined in 2011 to manage the production side. This charming quintessentially british family business continues to create a delightful range of beautifully made soft toys and collectable bears.

There is nothing mass produced about a Merrythought Bear because each of these collectable bears is lovingly hand-crafted. No two Merrythought soft toys of any design are ever exactly the same. In fact through every stage of production Merrythought do everything they can to ensure that only the best in top quality soft toys can bear the prestigious Merrythought label.