Putting Great British Family Businesses On The Map

The Family Business Road Trip 2017

On April 24 Family Business United began their annual tour of some of the UK’s most successful family businesses with the launch of The Family Business Road Trip 2017 in the South West.

The Family Business Road Trip is an innovative event that celebrates the essential contribution family firms make to national GDP and regional economies and as a family firm, we are delighted to be taking part in the event this year.

In the UK, the family business sector accounts for more than 4 million firms, £1.1 trillion in turnover (almost a quarter of UK GDP) and employs more than nine million people. In addition, the top 20 family owned firms in the UK generate turnover in excess of £49 billion.

Family firm Sturgess Jaguar are providing the car for the trip and the event is being sponsored by PwC, Farrer & Co, Western Pension Solutions and Close Brothers Asset Management. The Family Business Road Trip 2017 runs for six weeks covering Yorkshire to the Lake District and the Midlands to London, East Anglia, Sussex and a whole host of counties in between!

Over the six weeks, the tour will meet with families behind some of the UK’s most noteworthy businesses, including Wyke Farms, Thatchers Cider, Cotteswold Dairy, Heck Foods, Troy Foods, Arighi Bianchi and Hypnos Beds. During the visits we will be doing the most to dispel some of the myths surrounding the family business sector, promoting family firms as the engine room of the UK economy and celebrating the diversity of sectors that they are represent too.

Neill & Brown celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2017, Peter Brown says, “I am proud to say that Neill & Brown has been in operation for 100 years and has been in the family for 3 generations. With our home town of Hull also celebrating being UK City of Culture we certainly have a lot to shout about.”

Neill & Brown was the first business to pledge money to the bid process to secure Hull City of Culture status becoming a ‘Bid Angel’. “As a family business we take community involvement very seriously”, says Peter.

“As a family firm, our staff are part of that family and those values are reflected throughout the company and in the level of service provided to our customers”.

We look forward to welcoming The Family Business Tour to Neill and Brown’s Hessle headquarters on 23rd May.

As Penny Lovell, Head of Private Client Services at Close Brothers Asset Management says, “Family businesses are a key driver of the economy and we look forward to meeting some of the UK’s most successful firms.”
Sian Steele, Head of Family Business at PwC in the UK added, “Events such as this enable us to see first-hand the real diversity of the family business sector and the great contribution they make to the local, national and international economy.”

Richard Lane, Head of Family Business at Farrer & Co adds, “It is a real pleasure to meet family business owners in their own environments, to see the passion they have for what they do, and in many cases, have been doing for generations. It reinforces our understanding of the sector and is a real insight into the family business world.”

Paul Andrews, Founder and Managing director of Family Business United, “Family firms are the very backbone of the UK economy, and we are excited to be meeting with some of the best known family businesses in the UK, as well as some lesser-known hidden gems. We want to celebrate the businesses that do so much for the country, by helping them to link up and share the knowledge and experience of other family businesses, as well as having access to advice from who are committed to helping family businesses shine. The Family Business Road Trip is a great way for us to champion the sector and to help put some great British family businesses on the map.”

You can find out more at www.familybusinessunited.com

You can follow The Family Business Road Trip 2017 on twitter by using #FBRoadtrip2017.

Paul concludes, “This is the fourth year that we are undertaking the trip around the UK and we are undoubtedly going to meet some great businesses, some inspirational family business and their leaders and we are really looking forward to putting the family business sector on the map.”