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Martin Day has spent a lifetime in print and his happiest days were spent at Eagle Printing Works, yet he has no regrets about leaving
By Robin Meade
Martin Day is bedecked in his craftsman's leather apron, surrounded by relics of a bygone age of printing. Then he looks up from the type cases and chases, and declares with some glee: "I love the Mac.
"It's the most amazing tool. It has so much potential. Because I am a comp I am not fazed by it and I can appreciate it. Quite honestly, I think it's too powerful for most of the people who use it."
The tribute is heartfelt even though it is the Apple Macintosh, lasering, digital print and the general squeeze on printers' margins that has put paid to the Eagle Printing Works, a Dickensian looking workshop in Cranbrook, Kent, which closed last month (March) after 200 years in business. Mr Day, 62, who wanted to be an engineer, but ended up working a lifetime in print, is calling it a day and moving to Malta's second island of Gozo.
Always do it for less
He says: "I thought about doing something out there. I asked a printer about a standard stationery job, which I would price here at pounds 65 and he said he would end up having to do it for the...