STORY
KORKER SAUSAGES- THIRD-GENERATION SAUSAGE MANUFACTURER korker-sausages. co. uk
Korkers began in 1959 when Jim Hoad rented a village butcher’ s and game shop in Rolvenden, buying it two years later after the business proved itself. The original Korker sausage, made to a recipe already used by the Hoad family for four generations, was so popular that Jim chose to concentrate on wholesale production rather than trying to be everything to everyone.
That decision now translates into more than 20 tonnes of produce a week, including over 16,000 traditional pork sausages made at the Rolvenden factory, which was built when the original shop could no longer cope. The third generation has expanded the audience rather than tinkering with the recipe; head of sales and marketing, India Hoad’ s behind-the-scenes factory content has attracted millions of social-media views, while more than 500 UK stockists and nationwide delivery carry this local favourite far beyond its traditional patch. At Korkers, longevity still tastes reassuringly familiar, but each generation has found a new way to put it on the table.
BARRETTS- FOURTH-GENERATION AUTOMOTIVE DEALERSHIP GROUP barrettskent. co. uk
Few family businesses have reinvented themselves as often as Barretts. George Barrett, a Canterbury cyclist fascinated by machinery, founded the company in 1902 selling cycle and motor fittings from St Peter’ s Street. As new technology entered everyday life, Barretts moved with it, adding motorcycles, cars, radios, gramophones, refrigerators, toys and prams until more than 80 people worked for the business..
Even disruption became a prompt to move faster. After fire destroyed much of the shop in 1937, Barretts opened a modern replacement within four months. Its wartime workshops repaired Army motorcycles, while the post-war years brought another strategic shift as national chains tightened their grip on high-street retail. Rather than cling to every department, Barretts concentrated on the area with the strongest future- motor dealerships. Fourth-generation cousins Paul and Shaun Barrett joined during that transition, helping turn a family shop into a group with dealerships across Canterbury and Ashford. Its Canterbury BMW centre was named BMW UK Retailer of the Year in 2023 representing contemporary recognition for a family instinct that has been working since the first bicycle left George’ s shop..
CASTLE FARM- FIFTH-GENERATION FAMILY FARM, LAVENDER PRODUCER AND VISITOR DESTINATION castlefarmkent. co. uk
Arriving in the Darent Valley in 1892 with 17 Ayrshire dairy cows, the Alexander family began a farming story that would eventually colour the Kent countryside purple. Its success has come from repeatedly asking what else the land could produce, from an apple orchard planted in 1969 to William and Caroline Alexander’ s decision to sell decorative hop bines at New Covent Garden Market from 1985.
That experiment became The Hop Shop, followed by dried flowers and five consecutive RHS Chelsea Flower Show gold medals. Lavender, first planted for essential oil in 1998, now covers more than 110 acres, making the 1,100-acre farm the UK’ s largest lavender producer. Distilled within hours of harvest, it supports oils, toiletries, sleep products, walks, workshops and a busy farm shop, turning the crop and the landscape around it into complementary parts of the business. Fifth-generation family members now work across farming, marketing, photography and filming- evidently, Castle Farm’ s legacy is not one crop, but the instinct to keep finding fresh commercial value in familiar ground.
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