Little Greene

Little Greene is a Manchester-based paint and wallpaper manufacturer, founded in 1996 by chemist David Mottershead, who spent his earlier career in pigmented paints and coatings. The name is older than the company itself. It comes from The Little Greene Dye Works, a business recorded in 1773 on the banks of the Irk and Irwell rivers, where pigments and dyes were supplied to Manchester’s cotton weaving mills. The modern company was established close to that original site, and the hamlet’s name still appears on a map printed on every paint tin.

Little Greene remains an independent family business. Mottershead’s children, Ben and Ruth, joined in 2010, and Ruth now speaks publicly for the brand. Production is split between two locations: ten types of base paint are made at a factory in Wales, while tinting and finishing happen to order at the Manchester headquarters, with sample pots still filled by hand from a glass jug. The company says it uses a higher percentage of titanium dioxide than typical paints, giving stronger opacity and reducing the number of coats needed.

Heritage is central to its range. Through a partnership with the National Trust, Little Greene’s team analyses colours in historic homes and recreates them for modern use, alongside English Heritage colours covering periods from early Georgian to the 1970s. Its wallpaper collections, introduced roughly fifteen years ago, follow the same approach, drawing on designs found in English houses, including a pattern rebuilt from surviving fragments at Felbrigg Hall in Norfolk.

Today, the company operates nine showrooms and sells through thousands of retailers across the UK and America, as well as online. In 2023, it became the official paint sponsor for the reopening of Manchester Museum.