Mullard Limited was a British manufacturer of electronic components. In 1923 Mullard formed a partnership with the Dutch manufacturer Philips. Mullard finally sold all its shares to Philips in 1927. In 1928 the company introduced the first pentode valve to the British market. Philips continued to use the brand name “Mullard” in the UK until 1988. Mullard Research Laboratories in Redhill, Surrey then became Philips Research Laboratories. As of 2007, the Mullard brand has been revived by Sovtek, producing a variant of the ECC83 and EL34.
Mitcham production site
Mullard opened a new manufacturing plant at the end of New Road, Mitcham, Surrey in 1929. Mitcham was also home to the Mullard Application Laboratory.
Blackburn production site
In the late 1930s Philips opened a plant in Blackburn. By the end of the war, nearly 3,000 workers were employed. In 1962 over 6,200 were employed and and manufactured over 6,000,000 vacuum tubes a year. Mullard described the Blackburn works as “the largest valve manufacturing plant in Europe”. Mullard opened a new manufacturing plant in Mitcham, Surrey in 1929. A second building was added in 1936. Both buildings were very similar to those at Philips’ headquarters in Eindhoven, Netherlands. Mitcham was also home to the Mullard Application Laboratory.