About Us

The company was established as a partnership in 1967 by two brothers from the local village of Alston near Preston. The business traded as Alston Engineers and assumed limited liability in 1980 as Alston Engineers (Preston) Ltd. The main business was that of toolmakers. An engineering facility is still maintained on our site and continues to be an asset supporting the principal business.

Following the recession in the UK of the late nineteen-eighties, the engineering side of the business receded. In 1987 the original partners left and the primary activity of the business became that of pre-applied processing under the guidance of Mike Gillibrand CEO and owner of the business.

The company provides a service to OEMs across a wide range of manufacturing industry from electronics to automotive, significantly improving the performance of fasteners used in the assembly of their products.


Alston operates from 6,000 sq feet of modern premises on the Roman Way Industrial Estate in Preston and has capacity for processing some 60 million fasteners a year on a range of bespoke manual and automatic equipment.

Alston staff are pro-active and rapid response to customer requirements continues to contribute significantly to the success and expansion of the company.

The Alston Group is an enthusiastic member of Groundwork Pennine Lancashire and is working to ensure legislative compliance in health and safety, waste and resource management, transport planning and reducing negative impact on the environment.