Celebrating 75 years of Crown Oil

This month, we’re celebrating our Diamond Jubilee as we’ve been in business for 75 years! Crown Oil has come a long way from selling paraffin oil door to door in Heywood and has grown to become one of the UK’s leading fuel and oil distributors. To mark our anniversary, we’ve taken a look back at how we’ve evolved during this time, including what plans we have for the future.

Where it all began

In 1928, founder Harry Greensmith traded door-to-door from his wooden cart, supplying household goods such as firelighters, candles and lamp oil (kerosene). After World War 2, Harry expanded his product range to include the bulk supply of fuels, oils and lubricants, and several years later in 1947, his enterprise reached new heights and was named Silver Crown Oil Distributors.

Ten years later, Harry’s son David Greensmith joined the family business and new premises were acquired in Heywood. It was during this time when the distribution of fuels and lubricants became Crown Oil’s primary purpose, with red diesel making up the majority of the fuels sold.

Following 13 years of business growth, in 1990, Crown bought new headquarters in Bury, Greater Manchester to house its growing fleet of delivery tankers and vehicles.

In 2007, ownership was passed down once again onto the third generation of Greensmiths, as David’s son Matthew became the new company director.

Today, Matthew continues to drive the business forward as one of the UK’s leading fuel and lubricants suppliers. This success has been shaped by our commitment to providing unrivalled service from order through to delivery and beyond. This principle of offering added value to our customers has been instilled throughout our business from the outset and remains our number 1 priority.