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B&Q was founded in March 1969 in Southampton by Richard Block and David Quayle. The store was originally called Block & Quayle, but this was soon shortened to B&Q. This first store soon spawned others across the UK; by 1979 there were 26. By this time, the first of the co-founders had left the business: Block left in 1976 and Quayle in 1982.

B&Q grew rapidly during this time through a combination of mergers, aquisitions and expansions. In 1980, B&Q bought the Scottish company Dodge City , and was itself aquired by FW Woolworth. FW Woolworth and B&Q were bought, two years later, by Paternoster , who are now known as Kingfisher PLC and are still B&Q's parent company as of 2004.

By 1984This page is about the year 1984. For other uses of 1984, see 1984 (disambiguation). 1984 is a leap year starting on Sunday (link shows calendar). Events January January 1 Brunei becomes a fully independent state January 1 AT&T is broken up into 22 indepe B&Q had 155 stores throughout the UK. In the mid- 1990sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s 2040s Years: Events and trends Computers, technology Explosive growth of the Internet; decrease in the cost of computers and other techn these stores divided into two kinds: the smaller B&Q Supercentres which target the casual DIYer, and the large B&Q Warehouses for the keen DIYer and professionals.

In the late-1990s, B&Q became active in the rest of Europe and the rest of the world. First, in 19981998 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar), and was designated the International Year of the Ocean''. Events January January 1998 A massive ice storm, caused by El Nino, strikes New England, southern Ontario and Quebec, resulting, it aquired NOMI , PolandThe Republic of Poland a country in Central Europe, lies between Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, and the Baltic Sea, Lithuania and Russia (in the form of the Kaliningrad Oblast exclave) t's leading chain of DIY stores; later that year B&Q merged with FranceThe French Republic or France ( French: Republique francaise or France is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories located in other continents.'s Castorama . In 1999For the album by Prince, see 1999 (album 1999 is a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar), and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the UN. Events Kosovo War Former child star Gary Coleman files for bankruptcy Y2K prep B&Q opened a store in ShanghaiAlternate meanings: See Shanghai (disambiguation Shanghai ( Chinese: , pinyin: shang hi; Shanghainese IPA: /z h/) is China's largest city and is situated on the banks of the Chang Jiang delta. In Chinese, Shanghai's abbreviations are H ( or ) and Shen ., and aquired the British hardware mailorder company, Screwfix .

By 2000 B&Q had 50 of its larger Warehouse stores; this had doubled by 2003. As of 2004, B&Q in the UK had 320 stores and employed 36,000 people. Its 2003/04 turnover was £3.9 billion, and profit £372 million.

B&Q advertises under the slogan "You can do it when you B&Q it".