Our History

In 1830, 19 year old George Brown moved 8 miles from Houghton Regis to start a business as a blacksmith in Leighton Buzzard. Nobody knew why George made the move, but his decision led to the foundation of a business that has been an important part of Leighton Buzzard’s commercial scene for the last 187 years.

In 1841 George purchased the forge where he carried out his trade, along with an adjoining building in Leck Street, now known as Lake Street.

In 1850 he was joined by his son William who was taught the art of manufacturing edge tools like scythes, chisels, hay knives and forks, an area George had begun to specialise. By the end of the 19th century they had installed steam driven machinery, father and son then turned to making farm implements such as ploughs, drills and horse hoe’s.

Since then, with the Brown family still at the helm, the company has diversified into many areas with an emphasis on quality and customer care.

With a large percentage of employees being keen anglers a decision was made to branch into this field and our first tackle shop was opened in Leighton Buzzard in 2008.

Having built a trusted reputation, the Leighton Buzzard shop has expanded Four times to include a dedicated bivvy village in a large walk-through area, state of the art store with floor to ceiling racking full of products.

With the ever growing popularity of the past time, it was proven that expansion was required. So in 2019 a purpose built online retail shop was created for customers to enjoy shopping with Browns Angling wherever they are in the country.