LEC

LEC Refrigeration, originally known as Longford Engineering Company, was founded in April 1942 in Bognor Regis by brothers Charles Reginald and Frank Purley, two fishmongers frustrated by the high cost of ice—prompting them to build their own refrigeration system first used for their fish business. The company produced its first prototype fridge in 1946 and began mass production in 1947, ultimately becoming a major UK player with domestic, medical, commercial, marine, and scientific refrigeration units. Renamed LEC Refrigeration in 1954, the brand boasted a significant share of the UK market through the 1980s before being sold to Sime Darby in 1994 and later acquired by Glen Dimplex in 2005. Today, LEC domestic fridges and freezers are manufactured at Glen Dimplex’s Prescot facility in Merseyside, while specialist medical and commercial refrigerators continue under Glen Dimplex’s professional division