Member Article

Lancashire businessman comes full circle

A Lancashire businessman has relocated his company to the very premises where his career began more than 30 years ago.

Alan Braithwaite was 18 years old when he took his first job digging for Moywest Limited, whose head office at the time was based on Tomlinson Road, Leyland.

Three decades later the same site is the new base for Spriteprime, the civil engineering business Alan built from scratch alongside his wife, Sue.

Sue said: “Alan started Spriteprime 17 years ago with just three men and around £600 in the bank. I was doing the paperwork in the evenings when I came home from my job in a shop, and we were juggling the business with looking after our children, Sam and Jane.

“Over the next few years the company just grew and grew, and four years later I left my job at the shop to work for Spriteprime full time.

“When Sam and Jane were old enough, they joined the business too. Sam works as an agent and Jane takes care of our accounts and administration.”

Spriteprime has now grown into a business which employs 26 permanent staff and owns a fleet of over 40 vehicles.

The company will move to Tomlinson Road from its current premises on London Road, Preston.

Alan said: “Tomlinson Road not only has sentimental value but it will also allow us to expand. The move means we can consolidate our operation and house everything in one place, as currently we have to keep our vehicles at two separate rented yards.

“It will be the end of an era as we’ve operated from London Road for 17 years. The site has even made it to the small screen– Sue was recently a contestant on Come Dine With Me and we filmed some of the episode here.

“However, it’s going to be great to come back to where it all began all those years ago and it’s a real reminder of how far we’ve come. Sue and I want to thank our wonderful staff, as without their loyal support the company wouldn’t be where it is today.”

Alan and Sue were advised on the purchase of the property by Andrew Loftus and David Hackett from Chartered Accountants and Business Advisers Moore and Smalley, based in Preston.

Andrew said: “Alan and Sue are true entrepreneurs who have turned a modest family business into a thriving large scale civil engineering operation supplying blue chip clients. The couple are very forward thinking in the way they run the business and this has enabled it to flourish. As an example of this, Spriteprime has its own garage on-site where the company carries out all of its own vehicle repairs.

“This kind of approach, coupled with a strong financial position, has driven expansion which I’m confident will continue.”

Spriteprime’s client base includes BT, and the two companies have recently worked together to deliver the new infinity broadband across the North of England. The firm is looking to expand further over the coming months and is currently recruiting for new staff.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Graham Vincent .