The company, established in 1845, manufactured a wide range of products including writing implements and art materials.

The outbreak of the World War II in 1939 saw the factory pause pencil manufacture and instead produce secret military equipment.

[1] Berol's head office remained at the Tottenham factory until the need for extra production space led to a move to Whetstone, London.

In June 1967 the company opened a purpose built factory on the Hardwick Industrial Estate in King's Lynn, Norfolk.

In the 1980s, Berol won the contract to supply the BBC with standard and a wide range of promotional pens, highlighters, and permanent markers which proved extraordinarily popular, many of which were kept as souvenirs and continued to be workable for in excess of forty years.