Most Aucklanders have heard of Newcomb Digital, formerly known as Neville Newcomb Reprographics. The company has been at the forefront of quick digital printing for decades. Now Newcomb Digital is joining the Soar group of companies and bringing their equipment, people and brand under our roof in New North Road.
If you think Soar has an interesting history, dating back to when Lt. Colonel Fred Soar started the company in Onehunga nearly a hundred years ago, then you’ll be blown away by Newcomb’s history.
The family behind Newcomb Print can trace its ancestry back to Sir Hugo Le Newcomen, a Knight Templar of the 3rd Crusade, who settled in the English district of Lincoln. The Newcomb family also has connections to Thomas Newcomb ‘The Elder’ and Thomas Newcomb ‘The Younger’, who were King’s Printers throughout the reigns of Charles II, James II and William III.
While the ink in the Soar family’s blood doesn’t stretch back quite that far, Newcomb Digital and Soar Print share an intriguing grandfather-grandson connection.
“I was named after my grandfather Fred Soar, who started up Soar Print in Onehunga in 1920. Neville Mark Newcomb - known to most as Mark - was named after his grandfather Neville Newcomb, who set up the Newcomb family’s first New Zealand business in His Majesty’s Arcade in 1886,” says Fred Soar.
Neville Newcomb Senior established his first Auckland business in 1886.
Lt Colonel Fred Soar started his Auckland printing business in 1920
Combined, Soar and Newcomb have spent more than 200 years looking after the print needs of Auckland businesses. Soar’s strength has always been with high-quality offset printing, while Newcomb (previously known as Neville Newcomb Print and today known as Newcomb Digital) has had more of a quick-print and short run focus.
Newcomb Digital will move from Parnell to Soar’s premises in New North Road in late March this year. While it will be owned by the Soar Group of Companies, the brand Newcomb Digital will be retained and promoted.
