Armitage Shanks

Armitage Shanks
Private (subsidiary of Bain Capital)
Industry Bathroom fixtures & plumbing supplies
Predecessor Armitage Ware Limited
Successor American Standard Companies
Founded 1817
Founder Thomas Bond
Headquarters Stoke-on-Trent, England
Number of locations
 8 factories
Area served
 United Kingdom
Website http://www.armitage-shanks.co.uk/

Armitage Shanks is a British manufacturer of bathroom fixtures and plumbing supplies.

In 2004, Armitage Shanks had eight factories in the United Kingdom, the largest in Armitage, Staffordshire. Armitage Shanks is one of the sponsors of the Loo of the Year Awards.

History

Armitage Shanks logo on a urinal

The company that became Armitage Shanks was founded in 1817 by Thomas Bond in Armitage, Staffordshire. The Armitage "sanitary pottery manufacture" became a successful UK toilet manufacturer. In 1907 Armitage Ware Limited was incorporated.

In 1969, Armitage merged with Shanks Holdings Limited, a competing "sanitary engineering company" established at Barrhead near Glasgow, Renfrewshire in 1878, producing the famous brand name Armitage Shanks.[1]

In 1980, Armitage Shanks was purchased by Blue Circle Industries, and in February 1999, Blue Circle sold its bathroom division (consisting of Armitage Shanks and the Italian Ceramica Dolomite) to United States-based American Standard Companies for US$430 million. Following this purchase, the Armitage Shanks brand continued in the United Kingdom, and their former export markets. American Standard were acquired by Bain Capital in February 2007, and is now majority owned by Sun Capital Partners.

Other uses of the name

The company has inspired other people and groups to use the name, sometimes as an example of toilet humour.

  • Armitage Shanks is the pseudonym of the ringmaster of the Seattle, Washington based Circus Contraption
  • "Armatage Shanks" [sic] is the first song on Green Day's album from 1995, Insomniac, which came about after the band had been to England and noticed the brand name on the urinals there.
  • "Armitage Shanks" is the opening track from the Sleaford Mods album from 1998 entitled "The Mekon"
  • "Armitage Shanks" is the 24th song on Future Clouds and Radar's self titled album from 2007.
  • "Armitage Shanks" is the given name of the Loch Ness Monster in the musical from 2015 by Robert J. Sherman, Love Birds.
  • "Armitage Shanks" is a b side on the single from 1993 "U Talk 2 Much" by Cork City band, The Sultans of Ping FC. Lyrics include: 'No one says Merry Christmas to those masters of industry, Armitage Shanks' and 'Often people use you, never even flush you'.
  • "Armitage Shanks" is a humorous song by Chuck Brodsky, recorded on his live album "Two Sets."
  • Armitage Shanks was an English garage punk band in the 1990s and 2000s.[2]
  • "Armitage Shanks" is a fictional character in the Focus on the Family radio drama, "Adventures in Odyssey".
  • "Armitage Shanks" is a fictional character in the novel Taz by Dawood Ali McCallum.
  • "Armitage Shanks" is a fictional character played by Sean Griffin in the video game The X-Files (1998)
  • The Armitage Shanks Championship Bowl is a fictional Mornington Crescent prize in I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue.
  • "Armitage Shanks" was one of the many nicknames of the late Richard Marsland from the Get This radio programme.
  • "Hermitage Shanks," a pun on the name, is the title of a song on Mr. B The Gentleman Rhymer's album "I Say!" (2010).
  • Armitage Shanks is the main character in Kevin Cannon's graphic novels Far Arden and Crater XV.
  • Armitage is the name of a false super secret organization within MI7 that Simon Ambrose claims to be part of. He takes the name off a toilet within his view at the time in the movie Johnny English Reborn.
  • Armitage Shanks is the name of the lab rat in the eighth episode of the ninth season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
  • Armitage Shanks (Jamie) is the eighth song on Matt Fishel’s 2013 album Not Thinking Straight[3]

References

  1. ↑ "SHANKS OF BARRHEAD". Retrieved 2009-01-16.
  2. ↑ "Armitage Shanks". AllMusic. Macrovision. Retrieved 5 July 2009.
  3. ↑ "Cover Page 1 - MF Coming Soon". Matt Fishel.
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