The Business Exchange Swindon & Wiltshire Edition 44: Aug/Sept 2019 | Page 4

BUSINESS NEWS BIRTHDAY KNEES UP PLANNED FOR 140-YEAR-OLD WILTSHIRE FIRM Wiltshire-based household appliance firm, Knees, is celebrating its 140th anniversary this September with a birthday party weekend. The company, which was founded in 1879 in Trowbridge, began life as an ironmongers and manufacturers. It is still owned by the family and the current Chairman of the Board, Marcus Holbrow, is the great grandson of its founder, Henry John Knee. At different times in its long history, Knees has done almost everything including car sales and home removals. Josie Nicholls, a spokesperson for Knees, explained, “We have diversified a lot even in the last few years, particularly in the retail side of the business. Probably our biggest recent change is moving out of the town centre where we were a department store that was known for selling everything. This business model wasn’t really sustainable anymore because of the likes of Amazon so we had to evolve.” The store – which is now located at Spitfire Retail Park in Trowbridge – now focusses specifically on selling home furniture and kitchen appliances. Josie continued, “It’s hard for an area to see its shops change so dramatically, but we want to be in business for another 140 years, so we have become a lot more specific about the kind of products that we sell.” However, despite all these changes, Knees has still managed to retain its family orientated ethos. “The one thing that Knees has always had is an extra warmth and care about the people in the business,” said Josie. “These family values extend to the employees and customers alike.” Marcus, who has worked for the firm for 51 years, told The Business Exchange, “We remain always mindful that customer service and the support of the local community is at the forefront of our continuing success story.” Andy Pickford, Managing Director for Knees, added, “We now find ourselves 140 years old and proud to look back at our heritage but even more excited to look to the future.” The celebrations will span the whole weekend beginning with a birthday breakfast on Friday 13th September. Turn to page 16 to read our exclusive interview with financial adviser, Jonathan Knee, great- great-grandson of Knees founder Henry Knee. The past: A photo taken from inside the old Knees of Trowbridge store. Today: Inside the new Spitfire Retail Park shop. Switch On To Swindon launches TechSwindon campaign TechSwindon, a new campaign to support and promote Swindon’s growing digi-tech community, was launched at a business networking event at Nationwide Building Society’s HQ. TechSwindon is a Switch On To Swindon (SOTS) branded project which will work with organisations and business groups to run a series of meet-up events for start-ups, micros, SMEs and larger companies, which either provide digi-tech products and services or are reliant on it to do business. The campaign will work with partners to enhance Swindon’s digi-tech cluster and showcase its impressive capability to attract inward investment and a pipeline of additional skilled staff to allow business growth. DigiTech is a strong and growing industry and Swindon boasts the UK’s 3rd most productive tech sector with over 2,800 companies in the area delivering digi-tech products and services and over 25,000 companies reliant on digi-tech to operate. Jenny Groves, Chair of Switch On To Swindon, said, “The Switch On brand is used to promote Swindon as the destination of choice to live, work and do business and our 600 plus passionate Ambassadors provide their time and support to share these positive messages. “Both local businesses and new investors will benefit from the TechSwindon focus on attracting and developing additional talent, alongside the timely recent announcement of Institute of Technology funding for Swindon College and partners”. A number of businesses have already signed up to support the campaign, and lots more opportunities for business engagement and promotion are to be announced. Switch On To Swindon unveiled Nationwide Building Society as its first TechSwindon sponsor. For more information, visit: www.switchontoswindon.com, email: [email protected] Providing a monthly or quarterly bookkeeping service r ou y g Gettin ing sorted! bookkeep 07713 730839 4 THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2019 VAT returns Profit & loss report Debtors report Using cloud accounting software including: www.silverpenltd.co.uk All product names, logos, and brands are property of their respective owners. [email protected]