Brook Taverner Limited

Mention the textile industry to anyone in West Yorkshire and they will soon be telling tales of gloom and despondency, and talking of a once rich heritage of wealth, skills and jobs throughout the region that no longer exist.

The directors of one Keighley based business have turned this decline on its head and proved that by approaching a traditional operation with a redesigned business model that emphasises quality, craftsmanship and value for money, all supplied through an innovative approach to customers, it is possible to produce a range of products and services that are in demand and provide steady sustainable growth.

Brook Taverner formerly based in Huddersfield, was purchased by a team of entrepreneurs who had many years experience of running a traditional manufacturer of woollen cloth when they operated the John Haggas business based in Keighley. The decline of textile manufacturing in the UK was well established and the team were looking to buy a business to which they could add value and make a difference.

Historically, the Brook Taverner business had acted as a cloth merchant supplying UK manufacturers and tailors with cloths sourced from the UK, Italy and Portugal. They had increasingly supplied independent retail tailors with ready to wear clothing, and supplied corporate clothing to wholesalers throughout the UK.

Andrew Booth, Financial Director of Brook Taverner comments, “The business we bought was 100% wholesale. Historically the model was to supply either cloths, ready to wear manufactured garments or corporate clothing such as uniforms, through a host of independent and supplier outlets. We spotted an opportunity to take our products to market through a variety of retail outlets. It was a risky strategy and one that we had to handle extremely carefully and considerately as we would be cutting across all our customers by going direct to the public with our ready to wear garments. Our strategy with the corporate clothing was to remain fully committed to wholesalers, who operate this market extremely well. Initially we started to develop our plans by operating a couple of concessions in retail outlets. Our first was in Boundary Mill Stores in Colne. We operated it with our staff and it was an immediate success.

The next route to market was to establish a mail order and internet service so that we could mail catalogues to a wide range of potential clients. Obviously this allowed us to offer incredible service, track customers buying preferences and to offer amazing incentives such as ‘buy one get one free,’ free returns so a client can simply return the item if he does not like it and ex stock delivery. We also get paid prior to the despatch of the article as well!

We now operate around 50 concessions throughout the UK, mainly managed by our own trained staff, and the mail order business is growing at a fantastic rate. We have more than trebled the amount of business we do over the last three years and employ around 80 staff.

As manufacturing this type of product in the UK is no longer economically viable we have developed a network of suppliers of our finished products throughout the World. We actually now export British made cloth to our suppliers for them to turn into the finished article. We have incorporated all our manufacturing processes into our supply chain to ensure the levels of superb quality are maintained. We regularly audit all our suppliers to ensure quality and consistency.

I had worked with Robertshaw Myers at our previous company, and when we bought Brook Taverner they were asked to become our auditors and advisors. We have a long standing relationship with them. They have supported and advised us through the process of radically changing the business model. They are simply very good at what they do and do what they say they will do”.

Please contact us to find out how we are able to help you & your business

“Robertshaw Myers have supported and advised us through the process of radically changing the business model. They are simply very good at what they do and do what they say they will do”

Brook Taverner Limited