History

The origins of the Bisley Company go back to 1931. It was in that year that Freddy Brown, a tradesman sheet metal worker, started his one man business repairing damaged cars in a garage in St Johns, Woking, Surrey. In 1941 the company moved to its present site in Bisley, Surrey when a 400 square metre manufacturing facility was built and various wartime defence contracts were undertaken. It was responsible for designing and manufacturing the first containers to be dropped by parachute, which were widely used by airborne forces throughout the war. The company received several commendations from the Ministry of Defence for the work undertaken on behalf of the war effort.

At the end of the war in 1945, the company had built up a manufacturing capability for which there was now no demand. Car repairs had been resumed but no specific manufacturing role presented itself.

In 1946 a London wholesaler, Standard Office Supplies, now defunct, showed Freddy Brown a steel waste paper bin and was told that if he could meet the necessary price and delivery, then an order for twenty four would be his. From such acorns do oak trees grow. The rest, as they say, is history.

The company made steady if unspectacular growth. In 1963 the repair of cars was discontinued to allow more emphasis to be placed upon office furniture.

Freddy Brown's son, Tony, the present Chief Executive, joined the company in 1960. At that time the company turned over £95,000 per annum and employed 28 persons.

In 1961 the legal status of the company was changed from that of being a sole trader into a private limited company. The shareholding was divided between Freddy Brown, his wife and his five children.

In 1968 at the age of sixty seven, Freddy Brown decided it was time to retire and the company was put up for sale. At this point Tony Brown decided to try and buy the company which, since it was probably the first management buyout, tax clearances and other new legal complications meant that the deal took eighteen months to implement.

Eventually the sale was completed and all the family was bought out.

On 10 March 1970 Tony Brown took proud ownership of the company together with a considerable amount of debt. In that year the company had sales of £370,000 per annum and employed forty five persons. Freddy Brown remained as Chairman of his company until his death on 29 December 1977.

Growth has been steady over the years. Milestones were the launch of the filing cabinet in 1980, the side opening tambour in 1990 the pedestal in 1993 and systemfile in 1995.

To meet expanding demand, a 17 acre site in Newport, South Wales was purchased in 1988.

Sales increased every year, bar one, between 1970 and 2001, when sales peaked at £76.7 millions.

All growth has been organic. It has never been by acquisition.

The purchase of the site in Newport meant that the company could concentrate upon export markets. Export sales increased in ten years from £2.96 millions in 1987 to £20.27 millions in 1996.

Bisley achieved a unique status in the office furniture industry by being granted two prestigious Queen’s Award for Export Achievement, in 1992 and 1997.

At this time Bisley has two manufacturing facilities, in Bisley and Newport, which occupy 64,000 square metres. In addition, it has a showroom in Great Portland Street, London together with sales offices in France, Holland and Germany.

The company is the largest manufacturer of office furniture in the U.K. and one of the largest in the European Union. It is generally regarded as having the most modern, state of the art factories in Europe and presently employs over 1,000 persons.

The capital investment by the company over the past fifteen years is approaching £70 millions.