It started long ago....
It was in 1858 that John Pattinson acquired the practise of William Crowden who had been an assayist since about 1820 with premises down near the Quayside.
John Pattinson transferred his workplace to 75 The Side and began to practise as an analytical chemist.
There can't be many analytical laboratories in the country which can trace their origins back so far and with such a degree of knowledge of the history of the firm!