About Us

Craven & Nicholas.... a Brief History

Established in the mid 1940's by engineers Alfred Nicholas and Jack Craven, Craven & Nicholas (Engineering) Ltd was incorporated in 1948 as a general engineering company.

The company soon established itself as one of South Lincolnshire's leading engineering firms and supplier of agricultural steel frame buildings and structural steelwork. Among the many notable construction projects was the original footbridge over the river Witham and the Boston United football stand.




In the 1950's Craven & Nicholas developed the CravNic needle sorting machine which specialises in removing unwanted beans and pulses contaminated with insect and weevil holes. The reliability and performance of the sorter proved very popular and propelled Craven & Nicholas to become a world leader in the manufacturing of needle sorting machines with exports around the world.




In the late 1970's and 1980's Craven & Nicholas helped the UK get 'in trim' by manufacturing Polaris gym equipment, one of the leading brands of commercial weight training equipment in the world.