About Us

Here at Smith Bros (Caer Conan) Wholesale Ltd. we can trace our roots back to 1814, where an ironmongers was established at 14 High Street, Rotherham by William Radford Bayliffe. In 1840, this business was taken over by Brothers Smith who promptly re-named the company. This business went from strength to strength, sourcing hardware of all descriptions and even installing electric lighting in Rotherham Congregational Church.

In 1925 a Doncaster branch was opened on Silver Street and then in 1932, the business was incorporated. The Doncaster branch of the business outgrew its location, moving to Market Street and delivering locally using hand carts and bicycles and then subsequently to the old Waterways Canal Depot on Greyfriars Road delivering nationally using a fleet of 15 vehicles.

The business was streamlined in 1996 whereby the Rotherham branch was incorporated into the much larger two-site operation headquartered on Greyfriars Road in Doncaster with a larger warehouse located on Friarsgate.

The business went through another change just after the turn of the millennium with the construction of a new Head Office on Sidings Court in Doncaster and subsequent relocation. Unfortunately, in 2008 the business was hit by a large fire that levelled the warehouse and our stock within it. This allowed us to come back stronger though and with the construction of a new warehousing facility and implementation of a new electronic stock management system the business is even more equipped to deal with customer requirements, which is where we are today.

So where does the "Caer Conan" come from?

When the Doncaster branch was opened in 1925, one of the directors of the time, Thomas Cocker, owned another business where this was part of the title and it was used to differentiate the branches of the business. It is an ancient term that would ultimately become the name for the town of Conisborough as it is today.

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