25.10.2025

JCB marks 80th anniversary

JCB has celebrated its 80th anniversary by unveiling a heritage plaque at the site of the company's original facility, a private car garage in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire.

JCB was established in a rented 3.6 by 4.5 metre garage in Uttoxeter on the 23rd of October 1945, by Joseph Cyril Bamford, the same day that his son Anthony, the current chairman, was born. Bamford paid 30 shillings (£1.50) a week for the garage, which had no electricity, and built his first product, a farm trailer from wartime scrap and sold it for £45 at Uttoxeter market. The fledgling business remained in the garage for 18 months before moving to a stable block at Crakemarsh.

Anthony Bamford said: “As we celebrate JCB's 80th birthday, it is wonderful to be back at the spot where it all began and to mark the location with a special plaque. I am delighted that in a small way we can highlight where it all began and reflect on the continuing importance of our home county of Staffordshire.”

At the company's world headquarters in Rocester, 3,500 employees lined the pathways to celebrate. A cavalcade procession featured a number of milestone machines, including the first 520 telehandler from 1977, the 1991 Fastrac tractor, the 19C-1E electric mini excavator as well as the hydrogen powered backhoe loader and telehandler.

All 19,000 JCB employees across the company's 22 plants worldwide were given a day off on Friday, to mark the occasion.