A FAMILY printing firm in Easingwold is celebrating 150 years in business.

G H Smith & Son, based in the Market Place, is still owned and run by the Smith family who established it in 1866.

Brothers Rupert and Alex Smith, pictured, are the sixth generation to be at the head of the business.

They said the printing industry had seen major changes, moving from hand setting to hot metal setting and then into today’s generation of software programs and digital platesetting, while printing itself has evolved from letterpress to Lithographic, to digital printing.

“It is fascinating to think back to how our forefathers would have conducted business and how simple business processes such as placing a print order, or approving a proof will have transformed,” said Rupert, the managing director.