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This year sees the 60th anniversary of Whewell’s
Timber in Accrington as a Limited Company. The story doesn’t
start there though as Gordon Whewell reminded me. His parents,
Rowland and Olive were the prime movers.
“The story of the family business started in 1947, two years
after the war, when my father bought a run-down hardware shop in
Warner Street. He still worked part time at Lang Bridges and my
mother worked at Woolworths as a window dresser.
“She gave up her job and started in the shop selling hardware.
From there, my father, an engineer, started cutting keys and
repairing locks.”
The shop in question was number 45 Warner Street, on the corner
of Cross Street and although Rowland and Olive called it The Big
Key Shop, it was always known as Key Joe’s to the locals. Gordon
thinks that it might have been the name of the previous owner of
the shop.
Between 1947 and 1954 the family lived above the shop until
Rowland had enough for the deposit on a house, Gordon told me.
As business grew and expanded into selling hardboard and
beadings plus other timbers and Formica, the little shop became
inadequate and Rowland bought another one on the corner of Cross
Street and Oak Street. Gordon said of those early days:
“They had a little saw. It was only on the floor and you had to
kneel on the floor and push the hardboard through the saw to cut
it to size.”
As the company need somewhere to store the wood, Gordon went on:
“He rented a warehouse, which is part of what we now own. It was
just one big room. We started selling hardboard and other
products from there and now, as many people know we own quite a
sizeable property in Bridge Street. We own half the properties
in the street.”
Whewell’s is essentially a family business and Gordon’s son,
Michael, runs it along with his father, and now a third
generation is part of the company in the shape of Michael’s son.
I put it to them that it was great to see such a thriving
business in the town in light of so many closures. Gordon said
that was largely due to the fact that they had a staff that all
understood the business and some good customers.
Michael joined the company straight from school and I asked him
what he remembered when he just started out and what the
business was like at that time. He told me:
“When I started it was already here. All the buildings we have
now, except The Toolbox”.
The Tool Box was acquired around twenty years ago on the site of
what was then the Central Working Men’s Club in Bridge Street.
Michael continued:
“There were few places to get tools in Accrington so it was an
opportunity we took.
“We opened with three things really: hardware and ironmongery,
which the Key Shop used to do; locks and keys and also tools:
hand tools and power tools. It has been very successful.
Obviously since then with the advent of the Internet which all
the high street’s suffering from, and we are no different, it
just makes you more competitive really.”
Michael did say though that one advantage they had over the
Internet is the personal touch.
“We can get things in to order that people might find difficult
to find online. He went on:
“You can’t ask those questions online. You have got to tell it
what you want. You’ve got to know exactly what you are looking
for and if you make a mistake there’s nobody else to blame;
whereas, if you come in here and don’t know exactly what you
want, we can ask you the questions to try to ascertain the right
product for your needs.”
Michael also told me that one of the ways to succeed is to
recognise what is in trend and cater for it. Hardboard was
something that everyone wanted to panel their doors with in the
1960s and 70s for instance, but not today and MDF is now one of
their top selling products. Their customers include DIY
enthusiasts and tradesmen alike, and sometimes they will act as
a go between to find a tradesman to help the ones who get a
little out of their depth.
Talking to Gordon and Michael gave me a real insight into why
they are still going strong after all these years and on behalf
of Acorn News I wish them good luck for the next sixty years and
beyond.
© Peter Jones 2018
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