After 26 years at Albion and even longer within the valve industry, Les Littlewood, Albion’s Sales, and Marketing Director, has now retired from his role. Les has had a very successful career, of which almost 30 years of it was within the valve market!
Les started his working life at PCL in Sheffield, and whilst he was there, he achieved his HND as a draughtsman. He then enrolled in the Royal Navy (Fleet Air Arm) where he spent 12 years tactically navigating Sea King helicopters in the Anti-Submarine Warfare and Search and Rescue roles.
It was a chance encounter in a pub that led Les to join the valve industry, as he started working for Bancroft Pipeline, in Derby, in the early ’90s. Here, he worked as an Area Sales Manager for three years.
Les joined Albion Distribution in 1994; the company is now known as Albion Valves (UK) Ltd after a name change in 2012. He joined the company as a National Sales Manager and his role was to develop customers up and down the UK, many people within the industry may remember Les from those early days as he was instrumental in building the customer base that Albion has today!
During his time at Albion, he has seen the company’s turnover increase dramatically, their product portfolio reaches over 5,000 lines, the number of employees grows tenfold, and Albion’s sister company – Albion Valves (International) Ltd – be established and begin to flourish.
There is no doubt that Les will be greatly missed throughout Albion and the whole industry, as he has played such a vital role over the past 26 years.
