A Surrey-based British radio maker founded in 1932 that makes DAB, internet and Bluetooth radios, including the Revival, and holds a Royal Warrant.
Roberts Radio designs radios and related audio equipment. Its range includes the retro-styled Revival portable radio, DAB digital radios, internet radios, Bluetooth speakers and wireless speakers for several rooms. It describes itself as built to last and claims to be the oldest active radio manufacturer in the UK. Its Revival Petite was reported as the UK's best-selling radio receiver in 2022, and the company says the Revival has been the best-selling portable radio in Britain since it was reissued in 1993.
Harry Roberts and Leslie Bidmead founded Roberts Radio in London in 1932. Legend says they paid the deposit on a small Soho workshop by selling Bidmead's motorbike, and they began by making three portable radios a week. The founders' guiding principle, as the company quotes it, was to 'never compromise on quality and keep pushing the boundaries'. During the Second World War the firm moved most production from radios to Morse-code tappers. In 1959 Bidmead designed the box-shaped RT1 transistor radio, said to have been inspired by his wife Elsie's handbag, which gave the brand its familiar look.
Roberts is based at Roberts House, Hanworth Lane, Chertsey, Surrey KT16 9JX, according to the Royal Warrant Holders Association. A reference entry says it moved there around 2020, after earlier homes in London, East and West Molesey in Surrey and then Mexborough in South Yorkshire. It joined the GlenDimplex group in 1994 and remains part of it. The firm holds a Royal Warrant, 'By Appointment to HM The King', as a supplier of radio receivers, and says it first received a warrant in 1955.
Owen Watters is chief executive. A 1989 advertisement for Martini that featured a red Roberts radio brought the brand a new generation of buyers, and the firm built on that with the Classic 2000, its first DAB radio, in 2000, its first internet radio, the WM-201, in 2007, and the solarDAB, a solar-powered DAB radio, in 2008. We did not find a company culture or values page, or a current staff number, so we cannot say much about team life; the evidence here is about the products and history.
A radio brand like this needs product designers, electronics and software engineers who work on digital radio and wireless audio, buyers and account managers who work with retailers such as John Lewis, marketing and brand people, and customer service staff. Its long record of design shows that classic looks and new technology can sit together. Look at the Roberts website for roles and ask which jobs are in Chertsey.
Website: www.robertsradio.com
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