Astley Hire is proud of it's long trading history, which started back in 1966 after Cyril & Mildred Dorricott bought a hardware & grocery shop in Astley Green in 1963. Mildred ran the grocery business whilst Cyril continued to work for a local firm. Cyril realised that there was a demand for the hire of water pumps in the local area so he purchased his first one in 1966 to hire out as a supplement to Mildred’s grocery business... Astley Hire was born!

The hire side of the business developed rapidly in the early years as more tools and equipment were purchased to meet customer demand, and eventually, the grocery side of the business was phased out. Astley Hire was established as a true family business in the early 1970's when Cyril & Mildred’s sons Stephen and Michael joined the business. Both brothers served their time on the hire counter learning the hire business and dealing with customer requests. The company's growth was lead by the requests of the customer with Astley Hire soon diversifying into ladders, mixers, damp proof course pumps and rotavators.

Astley Hire has operated from various locations over the years. It moved from Astley Green to Leigh and also opened a second depot in Atherton. The company expanded into various premises within Leigh over it's life time, but in 2006, took the decision to consolidate the various depots to just one larger site - Lloyds Court on Jury Street, Leigh. It is from here that the business continues to operate from today.