Member Article

Small business spotlight: Andrew Ridley, Director at Gosforth electrical firm Ridley Brothers

Established in 1959, Ridley Brothers is a family-run electrical firm based in Gosforth. Fifty six years on from its conception, and currently under the stewardship of its second generation, the company is now expanding both its existing domestic and commercial offerings.

“We’re very proud of how far we’ve come. We’ve grown enormously well over the last few years in particular and now we’re focussing on upping the commercial side of the business,” explains Director Andrew Ridley.

Andrew and brother David Ridley came to the company’s helm when their father Fred Ridley and uncle Thomas Ridley retired in 2007.

The cornerstone of the brothers’ success has stemmed from maintaining the company’s long established, old fashioned service whilst implementing new technology to expand and improve its offering.

With a team of 10 staff, including admin support, electrical engineers and apprentices, Andrew places great value on the company’s ethos.

He said: “At our core we are a trusted, family business. We enjoy helping our customers and clients and we have a great reputation of being responsive to their needs.

“We provide honest and accurate advice for all electrical situations from wiring a new socket in a domestic house to a full factory refurb. There’s no job too big or too small for us!

With most of the firm’s business coming from referrals and repeat custom, reputation is key for Andrew.

He added: “Word of mouth is such an important referrer for us. We take a pride in our work and one of the first things we did when we took over the business was introduce a uniform for all staff to encourage professionalism and pride in the team to work here.”

The team now trains young talent via an apprentice scheme, whilst it has retained staff for over fifty years.

Andrew continued: “We have one member of staff who is in his 60s and started with us as an apprentice in 1964 he now enjoys taking our new apprentices under his wing, to show them the ropes not just in terms of the trade but how we do things with the customer at heart.”

Building on this traditional offering, Ridley Brothers is now complementing its values by embracing innovation and new markets, a chief factor in continuing its year on year growth.

Focussing on driving growth through its commercial offering, Andrew sees the company only reaching new heights.

“We’ve just completed a full factory refit for British Engines, a job which we all really enjoyed completing. We’re focussing on building this side of the business and it’s exciting to see what the future holds and how we can continue to innovate”

Such innovation, is the installation of the latest in new green lighting technologies.

Over the last decade the business has seen a surge in businesses wanting to install cost effective eco-friendly ‘green’ products, such as LED lighting, which can significantly reduce running costs.

Andrew said: “We are now a business that constantly innovates and we like to be at the cutting edge of technology to help our customers understand how to save energy with the latest products emerging in the electrical market.

“Since expanding our services to the commercial market we have experienced an increase in demand for cost-cutting technologies and have provided numerous businesses with essential energy-saving solutions. Recent projects include cutting electricity bills in half for a Mini BMW workshop in Newcastle, and several smaller businesses by fitting new NVC Lighting Oregon LED light fittings.”