According to the available records, members of the Barrow family have lived in Cheshire since the beginning of the eighteenth century. The present Managing Director’s great great grandfather operated a barge on the River Weaver, serving the salt industry which has been centred on Northwich since Roman times.

In about 1870 the family moved from Winsford to Lostock Gralam where William Barrow set up as a coal merchant with a horse and cart. As the business grew he diversified into household removals.

When Sir John Brunner and Ludwig Mond established their chemical manufacturing business in Northwich, they asked William Barrow to transport urgent consignments to the docks at Liverpool, Birkenhead and Manchester with his horse and carts. As this trade increased the coal business was gradually wound down in favour of general haulage. In 1919, James William Barrow (Bill) came into the business after serving an apprenticeship with Galloways, the steam engine manufacturers based in Manchester. Steam lorries soon replaced the horses and carts and Bill was in his element! One interesting sideline was developed in the late 1800’s as a result of the stables at Lostock Gralam being a stone’s throw from the Trent and Mersey canal. This canal connected the Potteries with the docks at Liverpool. Since Lostock Gralam is mid-way between Stoke-on-Trent and Liverpool, barge owners who were in a hurry to get their consignments to Liverpool to catch a ship would change horses at Barrow’s stables to enable them to complete the journey without an overnight stop. This “rent-a-horse” business faded away as firstly steam and then motor lorries took over from the barges.

Bill Barrow died in 1956 leaving his two sons, Geoffrey and Paul, to run the business. The two brothers realised that there was no future in carrying dock traffic on flat platform lorries and started the transition into bulk powder and liquid tankers in 1957. By the end of 1969 the fleet had grown to over sixty tractor units and eighty bulk semi-trailers. 

In November 1974 the company was faced with strike action over a 50% pay increase! Knowing that this would cripple the company financially, the two brothers decided to close the transport business and concentrate on renting out the fleet of bulk tanker semi-trailers.

Today the company is still owned and operated by the Barrow family.