About Us

Since its inception in 1971 by Jack Robinson & Roy Bibby, hence R & B and it's incorporation in 1972 the company has been the leading force in electrical installation in the Skipton and Craven area. It is a testament to the quality we offer that 70% of our electricians are "in house" trained, having joined the company from school. Our 3 senior electricians have between them 70 years of service.

The company has always reflected the changing fortunes of the local area. In the 70s and 80s, much of the local electrical work centered on the cotton, quarrying, bedding and brick plant industries. During this period these industries provided the core of our work and we had long associations with Kilnsey , Threshfield, and Pateley Bridge quarries, with tarmac plants at Skibeden and Halton East (where we installed much of the electrical circuitry to the plant which are still in use today). Our association with Edenhall Concrete Products, installing brick and concrete production plants, took us all over England and into Scotland and from this we carried on installing these type of plants the length and breadth of Great Britain for many other companies. We also had a long association with Silentnight Ltd particularly centred around Barnoldswick manufacturing plants, but also as far afield as Aspatria. Our work with the textile trade included the installation of a new incoming mains system for the Dewhirst mill complex in Skipton and installations for the Courtaulds Group at Embsay Colne, Nelson and Skelmersdale among others.

In the mid 80's Roy Bibby left the firm and the present managing director Chris Hill was promoted and took over the running of the day to day works, then in the late 80's due to ill health Jack Robinson sold the company to Chris Hill.

The decline of these traditional industries in the 90s saw a shift in our core business. We did however continue our association with local industry, carrying out work for J N Bentley for example the electrical installation for a new machine tool facility at Rolls Royce in Barnoldswick and also the design and installation of the electrical systems at the new Skipton Auction Mart site and Peter Clark Autos now Skipton Ford Garage, we have also worked on many Yorkshire Water, fresh and waste water sites.

Much of our work was now centred on school refurbishments and steel portal frame buildings as traditional business downsized and we are pleased to have worked with many local and national contractors including JN Bentley Ltd, Turner Construction, Bovis, Strata Group, Mitie Group.

We have, in the past few years found ourselves (along with our sister company R&B Building Services) returning to many of the old cotton mill sites and carrying out refurbishment work to either set up or expand and refurbish call centres and retail outlets.

This is only a brief summary and cannot itemise all the twists and turns of R&B Electrical (Skipton) Ltd through its soon to be 36 years of working in the local area and for the local community as throughout this time we have always been happy to carry out the day to day domestic work. No job has ever been considered too small.