The most frequently asked question when John Bull is mentioned is: Where and how did it originate?

In 1894 Lawrence Anastasi set his 12 sons up in business, giving each a shop in a different part of the island of Malta. As he himself was in the ironmongery trade, most of his heirs followed the same line of business. Giuseppe Anastasi (my grandfather) soon started importing goods and machinery, mainly from England, so he decided to call his new venture after the British figure of business, namely John Bull. So in 1898 The John Bull Ironmongery Stores started operating from premises in St. John's Street, Valletta. In no time at all goods were being imported from BSA Motorcycles of Birmingham, Bergius Kelvin Marine Engines of Glasgow, and Dunlop tyres from Fort Dunlop in Birmingham.

Grandfather passed the business on to his only son Joseph in the 1950s, and in 1976 the business, then known as The John Bull Company Limited went into its third generation of ownership when Joe Anastasi, eldest son of Joseph took over much of the automotive business to set up his own firm under the name The John Bull Garage, making John Bull the oldest distributors in the World for Dunlop tyres and allied products.

John Bull Racing was formed a short while later, catering for the needs of local motorsport enthusiasts, and in 1994 this branched into yet another field with the introduction of the RC trade.

Today John Bull Garage and John Bull Racing operate from premises in St. Paul’s Bay, still importing and selling Dunlop tyres, and also catering for the RC racing fraternity, importing goods from a number of countries and companies Worldwide. Among these one finds Yokomo, KO Propo and Take Off from Japan, Novak, Associated, Proline, Protoform and Checkpoint from the USA, Schumacher, RW Racing, Titanium Racing, MRT, from UK, Corally from Holland, Orion from Switzerland, and numerous other firms.

In no time at all John Bull has established itself as a leader in the RC field, boasting 7 National championship wins in the last 9 years. In the next few years multiple National RC champion Joshua will be taking over the management of the John Bull business, moving John Bull into its 4^th generation of import and retail business in Malta.