Notcutts is a name familiar to many throughout our region. Their garden centres have been a destination for keen horticulturalists for many years, but William Notcutt , one of the fourth generation of the family, has recently taken on the chair of the eastern division of the Institute for Family Business (IFB). Adviser spoke to him about the story of his family business, his recent business venture and why family businesses are so important.
You have been a strong advocate of the role family businesses play in our economy and society for many years. What drives this passion? I have long appreciated the responsibility and opportunity that family businesses represent and have been keen to learn about it and communicate on behalf of the sector. Family businesses have the potential to provide the greatest luxury of all, choice, and when carefully nurtured, they can be a powerful force for good. What do you think makes family business different? There is a tremendous sense of duty that a kitchen table apprenticeship cultivates, a feeling of stewardship, with often illiquid but patient capital and the willingness to do what is right by past, present and for future generations; not just of the family, but of staff, customers and all stakeholders. This goes above and beyond a mere job or a financial investment, or the short term reporting cycles which might encourage short term high risk strategies. For me, family business is all about sustained creation and preservation of wealth over generations.
You are a fourth generation member of Notcutts Ltd. Tell us about your family business. I am one of six fourth-generation owners of the business. In 1892 my great grandfather started with a small nursery in Ipswich and in 1897 purchased a more established nursery business in Woodbridge, which supplied the country estates and large townhouses of the day. Diversifying into landscaping, the business developed its range and scale and opened its first garden centre in 1958. This side of the business grew rapidly during the 1980’s and 90’s. Since 2007 it has divested itself of almost all the other business activities inherited or accumulated by the third generation and is now almost exclusively focused on garden centre retail, operating the fourth largest chain of garden centres in the country. You recently started your own business venture. What drove you to do so and could you tell us a bit more about what this business is all about? After twenty years at Notcutts, I left six years ago after strategic differences and have since developed my own diversified agricultural estate business, William Notcutts Estates. It includes arable farming, renewables and forestry, commercial and residential property, and furnished holiday lets.
2 0 | S C R U T T O N B L A N D | F A M I L Y B U S I N E S S
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online