AN ENGINEERING firm celebrated its 150th anniversary with a special bash in Dartford.

Beck and Pollitzer was founded in 1863 in Upper Thames Street, central London, as a general carrier and warehousing business.

The firm now specialises in installing manufacturing machinery and has 13 European offices and seven in the UK.

Around 250 staff travelled to the Burnham Road factory for the celebration on Friday (June 14).

Employees were given lifts in old routemaster buses to find a marquee set for a meal, drinks and dancing with the company banner suspended between two cranes.

Former employee Charles Oliver, 90, was reunited with a vintage Scammell lorry like those he used to manage a fleet of when working for the company.

PA to the directors Karen McCarthy said: “It wasn’t really a corporate do, it more of a family do as we are a big family at the end of the day.

“I have been working for the company for 12 years and this is the first time I have been able to meet so many staff in one place.

“We all had a great time and the weather was perfect.”