Can Britain’s Oldest Family Firms Show Us A New Way Forward?

From Tiptree jam and Walker’s Shortbread to Barbour jackets and the private bank Hoare & Co, some of the UK’s most trusted trading names are still owned by their founding families.

How have they survived for two or three centuries when so many other companies fall by the wayside?

Could it be that family businesses, with their focus on long-term thinking, conservative approach to financing and broader definition of success, offer a compelling alternative to the approach of the big PLCs?

Family businesses are the backbone of the UK economy. There are five million of them, accounting for 90 per cent of all private-sector employment. Yet their importance is often overlooked. Focusing in detail on a dozen great survivors, from household names to the silk weaver which made the fabric for Princess Diana’s wedding dress and a 300-year-old chain of funeral directors, Nigel Cope distils their experience into lessons from which other companies can learn – and which could be vital in helping our economy grow.

In his new book, The Great Survivors, Nigel Cope uncovers the stories behind some of the oldest family businesses in the UK, many of whom are still in the hands of their founding families to ask what lessons we can learn from them.

Family firms included in the book:

• C Hoare & Co (1672),

• RJ Balson and Son (1515),

• J Barbour & Sons (1894),

• Walker's Shortbread (1898),

• Lock & Co (1676),

• Shepherd Neame (1878),

• Berry Bros & Rudd (1698),

• CPJ Field (1690),

• Stephen Walters & Sons (1720),

• Timpson Group (1865),

• Wilkin & Sons (1885), and

• Samworth Brothers (1896).

Check Out The Oldest Family Firms In The UK

About the Author - Nigel Cope

Previously, he covered business news for ten years at The Independent, latterly as City editor, before spending nearly twenty years as head of media relations for Kingfisher plc, the retail group that includes B&Q.

He is previously the author of Retail in the Digital Age (1996), an analysis of the impact of the internet on retailing. It was one of the first UK books on the subject.

Find out more about the book and the stories behind some of the oldest family firms in the UK and buy a copy of The Great Survivors here