1936 was a good year for history – the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, the abdication of King Edward VIII so he could marry his American divorcee girlfriend Wallace Simpson, Buddy Holly was born, public TV was launched for the first time in the UK and Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics much to the disgust of an up and coming dictator in Germany – Adolf Hitler. Manchester City won its first ever First Division title and Manchester United were relegated. Arsenal won the FA Cup and Fred Perry won his third successive Wimbledon men’s singles title.
And at the same time, somewhere in West London, in Southall to be exact, the first Stelrad Radiators were being manufactured in a small factory not far from the Uxbridge Road. The radiators produced were column radiators – the forerunners of the modern column radiators that are still hugely popular in 2026 – particularly for older properties being refurbished with a new heating system. 2026 marks Stelrad Radiators 90th anniversary and will see significant celebrations throughout the year. The company has come a long way in its nine decades of supplying vital heating products both in the UK and further afield particularly across Europe.
The first practical radiator for central heating was invented by Russian businessman Franz San Galli around 1855 in St. Petersburg, using a cast-iron loop for hot water. St Petersburg was a pretty chilly place to be in the winter, so it’s not overly surprising that the radiator can trace its beginnings to this often snow-bound city.
Earlier concepts existed, like Matthew Boulton's 1790s attempt and Stephen Gold's work in the 1840s, but San Galli's design is credited as the birth of the modern radiator, later improved by designs like the Bundy Loop in 1872. The radiator in many ways mirrors social history. Whilst Stelrad began manufacturing radiators in 1936 the quantity was small and it would be a while before the volume increased significantly.
The second world war saw the destruction and damage of hundreds of thousands of homes up and down the country, particularly in cities that necessitated the building of large quantities of new homes in the late nineteen forties and nineteen fifties. Because of the urgency to build replacement homes, many of them were not built to the highest standards and did not incorporate what were then expensive additions – such as heating systems.
The homes of the UK relied heavily on coal in open fires to provide heat in the home, with many families effectively living in just one room in the colder months of the year as that was the only room that could be heated or that they could afford to heat. Several layers of clothing were worn when the family went to bed in cold bedrooms, and eiderdowns were essential additions to keep young, old and vulnerable people warm overnight. With most homes sporting draughty, metal framed single glazed windows, waking up to impressive but thick ice patterns on the inside of the windows was a common problem.
It was the nineteen seventies when house buyers first began to notice a new phrase creeping into their consciousness – central heating became more common in the UK primarily during the 1970s and 1980s, transforming from a luxury to a standard feature as gas availability increased and new housing was built, with widespread adoption leading to changes in home design and public health by the 80s.
While early forms of central heating did exist in the Victorian era, the affordability and convenience of modern systems only took off much later, driven by factors like the Clean Air Acts and the rise of natural gas. With the growth in demand for central heating came the inevitable growth in demand for radiators and the major growth of Stelrad Radiators as a major supplier.
The company exchanged hands several times in the last forty years and the product range has grown and broadened to offer a range of steel panel radiators, including the addition of designer, decorative and low surface temperature radiators and the arrival of specialist towel rails for the bathroom and en-suites in modern homes.
In 1999 all production in the UK moved to the current home of its manufacturing centre and its national distribution centre – Mexborough in South Yorkshire as the Dalbeattie factory in Scotland closed. The Compact radiator range was launched in 2000 and it has grown to be the best selling radiator for the company – with the addition in 2025 of the new green compact radiator range designed to reduce the levels of emissions caused by its manufacture and to help buyers incorporate a lower emission radiator in the increasingly greener homes being built up and down the country.
The National Distribution Centre is quite simply the largest facility of its type and distributes more radiators each year than all the other manufacturers in the UK in total. And with a ‘Complete and on time’ delivery record that exceeds any other radiator manufacturer. The on-going investment since the NDC was first built in 2003 has seen it grow, develop and become more sophisticated almost year on year until now it is arguably the most advanced distribution facility in the UK’s heating sector.
It has a dedicated team of 65 people who have an immense pride in their work and in keeping the NDC running smoothly and safely, day in day out. The company, celebrating 90 years of warmth, has come a long way from its birth in 1936 and now has the largest market share of any manufacturer in six different European marketplaces including the UK and Ireland. Watch this space for more information on the company’s 90th birthday celebrations throughout 2026. www.stelrad.com
