The oldest business in Diss has finally closed its doors, after almost two centuries of trading in the town.
Cupiss Letterpress announced this week that it has officially ceased operations, ending 192 years in the printing business.
In the two years since owner John Harding decided to retire, he has been unable to find a new buyer for the business, based at The Entry just off Frenze Road.
“It was the worst-case scenario,” said Mr Harding, 66.
“We tried to find someone who would look to take him but unfortunately nothing happened – nobody wanted to take him.
“We have stopped printing now and are cleaning up the machines we managed to find homes for.”
Mr. Harding’s great-grandfather, Benjamin Clarke, bought the business from Aubrey Cupiss in the late 1800s, and it has remained in the family ever since, providing a constant presence at Diss.
Over the years, she has provided letterpress printing for everything from books to wedding stationery, primarily using a Heidelberg Platen press.
Until 2020, it also manufactured horse medicine – a service that had begun under the ownership of the Cupisses.
The company offered a unique, textured, authentic feel to print that digital printers simply couldn’t – and the past decade had seen an unexpected boom in popularity.
“The business has changed drastically with modern technology, but we’ve managed to keep all of our typographic equipment,” Mr. Harding said. “We’ve found that we’ve become busier doing letterpress printing over the past 10 years than we had in the previous 20.”
Mr. Harding and his longtime colleague, Richard Lord, thanked customers for their continued support over the years.
“It was a pleasure dealing with them,” Mr. Harding added.
“We’ve met some really great characters over the years. We had a lot of people we could laugh with and treat them like friends.