Member Article

Teesside family business expands with funding from Barclays

Barclays Business, the small business arm of the global financial services provider today announced backing for Teesside based business Archers Jersey Ice Cream.

Archers Jersey Ice Cream employs 9 staff locally and has an annual turnover in excess of £1 million. The firm currently has stores in Jesmond, Darlington, The Wirral and North Yorkshire.

Archers Jersey Ice Cream was established by John and Susan Archer and their three children after losing their original herd of Holstein Friesians to foot and mouth and the business celebrated ten years this year.

The family, who have farmed since 1976 at New Moor Farm, Walworth Gate, Darlington, produce the milk for the ice cream from their herd of Jerseys and deliver it to the franchises across the North East to be made into fresh ice cream.

New funding from Barclays has enabled them to launch their latest ice cream parlour in Redcar in time for the holiday season. The new venture has created employment locally for two apprentices together with full time and seasonal staff.

John Archer, joint partner with wife Susan, said: “Barclays funding and advice has enabled us to weather the recent economic downturn, restructure our finances and expand with the new ice cream parlour in Redcar.

With Barclays help, we’ve had a complete economic review to see how we can operate more effectively and free up cashflow. It’s taken a lot of hard work on all sides but we have fully restructured our finances and we’re now confident we have good processes in place to secure the future of the business for the next generation.“

Gavin Brittle, Business Banking Director at Barclays said, “It’s been a challenging environment for many businesses and it’s been very rewarding seeing John and Susan progress their new strategy plans. For any business to operate a diversified business successfully for ten years is a fantastic achievement and great that we can support our longstanding customers through the good and tough times.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .