Sheffield Printing Logo

Sheffield Printing

In the Heart of Abbeydale

Geoffrey dawn, founder of Mensa Printers

Geoffrey Dawn

Founder of Mensa Printers

A short history of
printing in Sheffield
by Mensa Printers

Mensa Printers of Sheffield began life on Whitsuntide Tuesday 1956 in an office in Stanley Street, off the Wicker, in Sheffield. The business was founded by Geoffrey Dawn who was qualified as an accountant. He decided to explore the world of independence and see if small business would make for a better life.

Clients appeared and the fledgling business began to develop. Before long he moved into Grosvenor House on the corner of Wicker and Nursery Street in Sheffield, occupying larger premises. Clients’ increasing requirements led to the acquisition of newer equipment and the business became known for offering a valuable printing service to local businesses and the community.

George Dawn joined the Mensa Printers and began to learn the inky arts of the printer's craft trade. Larger and more powerful printing equipment arrived and in 1988 Mensa Printers moved across the centre of Sheffield to Arundel Lane where it still operates.

In 2002 Mensa Printers began to operate colour digital printing presses in Sheffield as Xerox machinery became available. More and specialised digital finishing machines were added to our capability before the existing Sheffield printing operation required the building to be entirely redeveloped. For over three months Mensa's staff continued to offer a service to clients whilst huge changes happened all around.

In February 2004 a new state of the art production colour printing press was delivered by Xerox. This offers Mensa Printers the capability to deliver a hugely improved service based on the company's heritage values to clients old and new.

Further new Xerox digital presses followed in 2006, 2011, and 2015 keeping us up to date and improving our services each time. Mensa Printers now offers digital perfect binding and wire binding to our long standing booklet printing. We also added mug printing and fridge magnets in 2017.

In 2019 Mensa Printers left its home of a little over 30 years to move to 323 Abbeydale Road where we have created a state of the art digital printing workshop and added retail stationery to our services.