Veteran Waterloo based printer Edgar Bragg & Sons has been evicted from its 100 year old premises after it was compulsory acquired for a metro rail station, but owner Arthur Habib says they will carry on with the printing business.
Habib says, “Our negotiations with Transport for NSW (TFN) have been hard, costly and very painful to all our family in the business over a very long period.
“Our factory building at 130-134 Cope Street Waterloo was compulsory acquired on the March 24 this year by TFN as part of the site for the proposed new Metro Waterloo Station. Late last Friday a compromise settlement with TFN was completed with the condition that we have to vacate the premises by the 23rd of this month. Our company built and has occupied the building since the 1950s."
The family is planning on remaining in print, and for now is outsourcing its print. Habib says they are selling most of the equipment, as putting it in storage does not seem like a smart idea. An online auction is currently open on Liquid Assets Management and will finish June 13.
He says, “We are selling most of the stuff, keeping a few items. If we do buy another building, we can upgrade the equipment."
[Related: Century old printer kicked out by metro]
Habib says, “We have contracted our printing out to a number of printers, then we are looking for another building to buy. We have had various offers from other printers to merge or buy them out. We are exploring few options. We are going to take our time. We have been so hassled the last 18 months or so that we got to sit and think what action we finally decide on.
“We want to continue doing the same thing, originally had in mind with our location had a lot of letter press stuff in conjunction with offset. We had plans to re-establish a letterpress craft shop with various other things like a restaurant and other craft because we had a large print building.”
The family have been looking in the area but due to the rocketing real estate prices, it is a struggle to find a decent property.
“We have been looking for a building with a similar size around here. We cannot see any property and if we do the prices have shot through the roof. There is little on the market. We will have to relocate a bit further out,” he says.
In May 2016, Edgar Bragg & Sons was told the building would be compulsory acquired by TFN for the proposed Waterloo station. The government told Habib there was nothing he could do as the government needed the site.
Habib says, “For us as a family, we have all worked hard and long hours and over the years this work place has been a home away from home our children who grew up in the building doing their school and university assignments at work and now our grandchildren are running around the building. It would be great to go back and delete the last 15 months however this is not possible and time and progress marches on.”
Edgar Bragg & Sons (trading as Bragg Printing) with over 100 years in the printing business has accumulated a wide range of printing machinery and associated finishing equipment including a collection of historic letterpress machinery and type cabinets.
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