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Family Ties & Strong Bonds: 25 Years of APL Locksmiths
» THIS NOVEMBER MARKS 25 YEARS since Anthony Lomax launched APL Locksmiths. What began with a van and a determination to make a living has grown into a well-established locksmith business in Stockport, employing five people and specialising in everything from domestic callouts to automotive work.
From Joinery to Keys
I left school on my 16th birthday and went straight into joinery. My dad had a joinery manufacturing business and I worked there during school holidays, so it was natural to start my career as a joiner. After that, I went to work on the trade counter at Aldridge Security. That’ s when I really started to get hands-on with keys and locks. I’ d always enjoyed playing with keys as a child, so it felt familiar.
It was at Aldridge I met Bob Oliver, who ran a locksmith company in Fallowfield working around Manchester University. I started working with him for a year, then at 21 I decided to work for myself. It was just me, a van, and a bit of nerve at the start, my mum used to help me with my admin. When Bob retired, he passed his university contracts on to me, and that gave me a real boost to keep building my business.
The Shop Years
For a long time, it was just me on the road, but 17 years ago I opened the shop. That changed everything. Suddenly, it wasn’ t just a mobile service; it was a proper business with staff, regular customers, and passing trade. We haven’ t had to advertise for over 20 years now, word of mouth and the shopfront do the job.
When we first opened the shop, people started asking if we did car keys. I didn’ t like turning work down, so we started cloning them. That led to programming remotes, handling lost key jobs, and eventually full automotive locksmithing. For the last 10 years, I’ ve focused solely on the automotive side. We do car keys in the shop and have contracts with police, major dealerships, and plenty of trade customers. On the domestic side, the team handles housing associations, schools, universities, and property companies.
Covid and Other Challenges
So far in my career, notably covid was one of the hardest times. The shop had to close, and we ran on a skeleton staff. But we still kept busy supplying keys to Stepping Hill Hospital. They were under so much strain, losing keys, needing replacements as new staff joined. We cut keys for them on site and helped keep their doors going. At the same time, we picked up work from people stuck at home with things like broken patio doors.
Another challenge is staff. Finding reliable people with the right skills and attitude isn’ t easy, but we’ ve been fortunate. Marc Kerr has run the shop for 10 years, Joseph Christian joined us after his dad worked here, and David Sturtivant is a steady pair of hands. My wife Ann-Marie keeps the business fully operational with admin, ordering, wages, health and safety- everything I don’ t want to do! I hate paperwork, but luckily, she loves keeping everything in order.
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NOVEMBER 2025
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