Top 100: Chinese partnership signposts brave new future for major family firm

It was started by two Gloucestershire brothers on their return from the Great War, and today – under the leadership of one of their grandsons - it’s a thriving multi-million pound business.

Dear Readers,

We hope your summer has gone well.

We might have gone quiet since before the bank holiday weekend (we gave ourselves a few days off), but we’ve also been working on one of two stories too.

Before we publish those on future editions we thought we would run with the main story you will find below, about a business started by two brothers after they returned to Gloucestershire from the Great War, and which one of their grandsons went on to transform into a company with a turnover in excess of £27 million and rising. Which makes it big enough to be featured in the Top 100 Businesses in Gloucestershire series we run in our Reports & Deals channel which follows the fortunes of the county’s biggest firms by turnover.

Above it we’ve also run a couple of other stories - one about peace and harmony definitely not breaking out at Gloucester City Council after the new leadership launched a blistering political attack on the former Conservative leadership.

Why does this matter to anyone? There is a train of thought that believes if the city is going to continue on its current course of regeneration it needs to avoid falling back into its old ways - of infighting and local politics hindering good decision making.

And for those of you who have spent the summer pondering how best to get a better grip of your business and make some clear decisions, you may well want to read about Will Abbott’s business boot camp on Tuesday 3 September.

As for the main story, we’re afraid we’ve paywalled it - as we do with many of our Thursday and Friday editions and with most of our Top 100 features. Why? Regular readers will be tired of hearing it, but we do it to help make sustainable what we do - providing some real, quality journalism for Gloucestershire, not just recycled press releases and lists, but articles where we actually talk to people and check stuff.

If you think that is important like we do, and want a truly independent, editorially and journalistically-led, community-focused digital magazine for the county, please do become one of our paid-for subscribers.

Please send us your stories/ideas about companies/people/issues you think we should write about. Email andrew.merrell@raikesjournal.co.uk or telephone 07956 926061.

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* Everything you read on The Raikes Journal is made possible by our incredible Founding Partners: QuoLux, Willans LLP, Gloucestershire College, Merrell People and Randall & Payne, our sponsors Hartpury University and Hartpury College, our Founding Members and wonderful paying subscribers.

If you upgrade to paid, you’ll be part of this community interest company too. In an era when local journalism is all but gone, we are dedicated to delivering quality journalism for Gloucestershire, to championing the county, in particular its businesses, charities, education and training providers, to defending it, challenging those who need to be held to account and to helping create an even stronger community. If you upgrade to paid you will be able to see past the paywalls on our second and third email editions of the week, that lock all our archive after two weeks and lock our rolling Top 100 Businesses in Gloucestershire, the series that follows the financial fortunes of our biggest firms by turnover. You will be able to comment on our stories too. You’ll be helping make this CIC sustainable. Please do join us.

You can sign up for just £2.30 a week - or £1.80 a week if two or more people sign up at once.

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Help build your business skills

If you are one of those who has spent your summer thinking about how on earth you can work smarter and spend more time driving the business forward, but just can’t seem to find a way to do just that, this might be the answer.

Over the years Randall & Payne partner Will Abbott has become something of an expert at helping business leaders achieve just that.

And he plans to help a new cohort to do just that by staging a workshop at the firm’s Chargrove House headquarters in Shurdington on Tuesday 3 September. The aim will be to help you improve agility, efficiency and impact as a leader and give you the tools and show you how to understand the latest trends for attracting and retaining top talent.

You’ll join a small group of other business people for a workshop you will leave with a 90-day plan under your arm.

You can find out more by emailing marketing@randall-payne.co.uk or calling Jo Kline on 01242 776000 for more information.

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There may be trouble ahead!: War of words breaks out around Gloucester City Council

Maybe it is just us here at The Raikes Journal, and because in a previous life we reported on hours of council meetings and saw the mire into which Gloucester City Council’s politics (any politics for that matter) could become stuck, but we could not walk past this one.

This is a story based on the latest press release from the new leaders of the city council, the Liberal Democrats, which won 17 of the 39 seats on the local authority in the elections earlier this year.

It meant a change from Conservative leadership for the first time in 20 years, during which time the city also saw the likes of the Gloucester Heritage Urban Regeneration Company set up to drive redevelopment as well as the GFirst LEP on a county wide scale.

Both, it could be argued, were brought in because decision-making on the ground often found itself at the mercy of local political infighting and it was felt a new approach was needed.

For others, the demise of GHURC and now the local enterprise partnership, brings decision making back to where it should be - in the hands of those elected by us to run our local authorities, and this is simply democracy at work.

Those with longer memories may already be fearing the worst.

The ‘latest release’ we mention above leads on what it calls “the 10 worst failures of the former Conservative administration”.

Rather than just post it verbatim we thought we’d ask for a response from the Conservative councillors re-elected onto the council to work alongside the Liberal Democrats and other parties. We carry most of that robust response below.

That list of ‘10 worst failures includes’ “a failure to produce audited accounts” since 2020/21 and “crucial contracts such as payment services platform not renewed on time putting the organisation at risk”.

It also lists…

* The famous Tall Ships Festival came in £100,000 over budget due to a fall in income from ticket sales and sponsorship

* The collapse of the Club at Tuffley Park CIC cost the city council £170,000.

* A vacuum of ideas with the council treading water. Understaffing is also making completing simple tasks difficult.

* Unnecessary uncertainty over the future of Gloucestershire Airport.

* The sudden closure of the GL1 leisure and uncertainty surrounding the current temporary contract, which has so far cost £60,000.

* The collapse of Marketing Gloucester Ltd with £1 million of debts severely damaged the reputation of the council.

* Planning enforcement is overworked and under-resourced with a massive backlog on unprocessed enforcement action.

Jeremy Hilton, the leader of the Liberal Democrats and new leaders of the city council, said: “We have been left shocked at the legacy left to the city by the Conservatives. Their legacy is one of neglect and indifference.

“The Conservatives have systematically dismantled the financial foundation of the city council leaving us struggling to provide even the most basic services.”

Councillor Declan Wilson, deputy council leader and cabinet member for resources was equally scathing, suggesting the council had been left with “few options”.

Which doesn’t exactly fill anyone with a great sense of optimism for a city which seemed to have a lot to shout about until recently.

But it is worth pointing out that while the release comes from the party now in charge of the local authority and quotes the new leader and deputy leader, it is not a city council release. It comes from the Liberal Democrats HQ in Gloucester, something those involved feel makes a significant distinction.

In response to the Lib Dem’s all-barrels broadside the Conservative Group told Raikes it was “disappointed to read that Councillor Hilton is making excuses already for not delivering on his campaign promises to the people of Gloucester.

“Instead of getting on with the business of leading the council it seems he is more interested in paying his group more money and writing articles criticising the previous administration.

“Some of the issues listed by the Liberal Democrat Leader are unconfirmed and we will be pressing the Leader of the Liberal Democrat Party to evidence these claims.”

The Conservatives said the Liberal Democrats “have spent the last few years in charge of the overview and scrutiny committee and the audience and governance committee and have therefore been well aware of the issues facing the council and have had every opportunity to challenge any decision and make recommendations for alternative decisions to be made”.

Cllr Stephanie Chambers, Conservative, said: “I am very concerned about the priorities of the leader of the council, Cllr Jeremey Hilton. His first decision as leader has been to increase the allowance paid to his group by an extra £23,506 whilst decreasing the amount of work they have to do.

“Leading the council is not an easy job and there will always be challenges to deal with. The city of Gloucester need a strong leader who isn’t scared of hard work. After 117 days in power I would expect to see some action and less excuses”.

Cllr Andy Lewis, deputy leader of the Conservative Group, said: “The decision of the Liberal Democrats to pay themselves more money did not feature in their extensive campaign literature at all let alone as their first priority!

“We have asked what services were to be cut in order to pay for this increase and have just been told that it will be listed as an ‘in year pressure, this is just not good enough’.”

We went back to Mr Hilton to ask about this ‘extra money’. He explained this was simply a decision to add an extra body to the council cabinet in order to produce a more effective administration.

“We did consider going to eight members, but opted for seven. That is where the extra money is needed. The legal limit is 10. Cheltenham has nine, the Cotswolds eight, Tewkesbury nine, Swindon 10 and Oxford nine.

“This is about allowing us to make better quality decisions faster and does not impact what individuals are entitled to claim in any way. No one will be working any less hard or for any more money.”

Just in case you have forgotten after reading all of that just how well Gloucester is actually doing, despite the long list of challenges the new leadership claims to face, the Conservative Group statement did go on to say the following, even if it could not resist a sideswipe at Mr Hilton to end on…

“The transformation of Gloucester City Centre over the period of Conservative administration has been phenomenal, with the Quays, The Docks, The Food Dock, investment in Westgate Street, The Transport Hub, The Forum, the recent £2 million brownfield land funding, the levelling up funds including the university investment in our City Centre, the most amount of homes built for the residents of Gloucester since records began and much more.”

But the statement could not leave it there, adding: “We need someone who can bring positivity to Gloucester and if Cllr Hilton cannot do that maybe he should stand aside and let another member of his group who believes in Gloucester take the leadership.”

We will see.

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Top 100: Chinese partnership signposts brave new future for major family firm

It was started by two Gloucestershire brothers on their return from the Great War, and today – thanks to the leadership of one of their grandsons - it’s a thriving multi-million pound business.

By Andrew Merrell.

A small increase in turnover should not distract from plenty of positive signs for one of Gloucestershire’s best-known car dealerships, a family business with more than 100 years of history. 

We are talking about Warners of Gloucester, a business which can trace its roots back more than 100 years to when Cecil and Harold Warner returned from the Great War to start their business in Twyning, near Tewkesbury. 

While that business flourished, beginning by serving the farming community and extending into car repairs, petrol supplies and even bus services, what we know today as Warners is built on the work of Harold’s grandson, Mike Warner. 

It was 1968 when he took charge of the car repair segment of the business, moving it from Twyning to Tewkesbury and growing it into one of the county’s leading motor groups, selling and servicing Peugeot and Citroen cars and commercial vehicles, as well as Isuzu. 

From this month (August), in the beginning of a move away from Peugeot, it became one of the first dealerships in the country to begin offering the Chinese brands Omoda and Jaecoo.

Both marques are part of the Chery group, currently the ninth biggest car manufacturer in the Chinese market (selling 1.9 million globally last year) and its biggest car exporter for the last two decades, with five of its brands inside the Russian Top 10 best selling vehicles this year. In 2023 the business, which also has a joint venture deal with Jaguar Land Rover, sold 450,000 vehicles outside the domestic market and is now turning its attention to Europe.

We take a look below at that development a little closer, and at its recent financial performance. In a market changing from traditional petrol and diesel to electric, where hybrid is currently king it is China that currently leads the way.