The Family Business UK Magazine is essential reading for anyone looking for a glimpse into the world of family businesses. In this edition, we ask what 'legacy' means to some of the UK's longest established family firms. We showcase 150 years of the Gray-Nicolls family making the cricket bats that power sporting legacies. We meet the family business employee who has become the first person to compete at the Winter Paralympic Games with MND. And, we hear from the family behind The Entertainer on their exit to employee ownership. Plus regular features showcasing Member anniversaries, policy updates and more.
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE FBUK Policy Agenda FBUK The Family Business UK Magazine - June 2026
Paralympic dreams
Employee ownership at the Entertainer
LEGACY WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU
Cricketing legacy // Anniversaries // New Members
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Welcome from FBUK CEO
turbulence and geopolitical instability, there has never been a greater need for the sector’s contribution to be acknowledged and its voice heard. A 25th anniversary is a moment to celebrate. But the family business model deserves to be recognised and celebrated every day, not once every 25 years. This edition of our magazine showcases just some of the reasons why, and how, our Members deserve that recognition, and are helping to build Britain for generations. If you’re not already part of our movement, or want to know how you can get more involved, please get in touch with me or a member of the FBUK team.
Family businesses put people first and invest in employees and their communities. They take a long- term view and build resilience by putting the next generation at the heart of decision making. These strengths should be backed by policies that incentivise investment and growth, championed in the media and reflected in the choices customers make. But that’s not the experience of many family businesses today. When Sir James Wates approached me to become CEO of FBUK it was not simply to run a membership organisation, but to build a movement of family businesses wanting to create change and a better future for generations to come.
Twenty-five years ago, when Alex Scott and Grant Gordon founded the organisation that became FBUK, they created a place where family businesses could network, connect and share experiences – an organisation by families, for families. That ethos remains central to our work today. Owning and leading a family business can feel lonely, but we hear repeatedly from our Members that, as part of our network, they are not alone. It’s one of the key reasons why hundreds of families have joined, and continue to join, FBUK. Over the last 25 years, the attributes that make family businesses special have stayed largely the same. But the world in which they operate has changed markedly.
Momentum is building. And so is our movement.
Neil Davy CEO Family Business UK
Membership of FBUK is increasing faster than ever, including new Patrons representing some of the country’s leading family businesses. Our FBUK Communities are expanding, as is our network of Corporate Partners. A new Policy Agenda is strengthening cross- party engagement and a new alliance of UK trade bodies, with large representations of family businesses, is coming together to ensure that – for the first time – family businesses speak with a single, unified voice. But to achieve our ambitions, family businesses themselves must stand up and speak up.
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The FBUK magazine is designed and printed by Linney.
If you have news about yourself or your family business, or if you have an idea for a topic which you think we should cover, contact the team at press@familybusinessuk.org To advertise your brand or services in the FBUK magazine, contact Martin Greig at martin.greig@familybusinessuk.org
FBUK has evolved to reflect that.
Our purpose is to help build Britain for generations – something family businesses have done for decades, even centuries. Yet their ownership model and contribution to our economy and society is still under- recognised and under-valued by policymakers, the media and consumers.
With the combined headwinds of domestic policy, economic
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Contents
Steve Rigby Chairman of Family Business UK
When people talk about legacy, it is often framed in financial terms: companies built, jobs created, value generated. Those things matter. They matter hugely. But with the benefit of time, perspective and experience, I have come to believe that legacy is about something much broader, and much more human. In family business, we are long- term thinkers by instinct. We plan in decades, not quarters, and we care deeply about what we pass on to the next generation, not just of owners, but of leaders, employees and communities. A true legacy is not what you extract, but what you leave behind. At Rigby Group, we have been fortunate to build businesses that have grown, endured and adapted across generations. That longevity brings privilege, but also responsibility. Leadership, in my view, is not simply about running organisations well; it is about using position, influence and capital to make a positive difference beyond the business itself. That belief underpins my commitment to philanthropy, particularly place-based giving. Through The Rigby Foundation, my family and I focus our efforts on the West Midlands – the region that has supported our businesses and our people for decades. Concentrating
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Welcome from FBUK CEO
FBUK Chair – legacy beyond the ledger
Legacy – what it means for family businesses
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The family driving cricketing legends
Making Paralympic history
The Entertainer’s employee ownership
Is a family office for you? JP Morgan
Corporate Partners 20 FBUK Policy Agenda 21
Policy Agenda – Tim Wates 22 Policy Agenda – FAMILY-first approach
23 Advocacy latest 24 New Members 28 Member anniversaries
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Legacy beyond the ledger Leadership with lasting impact
resources in one place allows us to build meaningful partnerships, understand local challenges and back long-term solutions, particularly for young people facing disadvantage. I often say that making money is a skill. Giving it away well is another. Philanthropy is most effective when it is thoughtful, structured and sustained, when it aligns capital, time, networks and expertise behind outcomes that last. For family businesses, this is a natural extension of the values we already hold: stewardship, responsibility and continuity. Legacy also extends into policy and advocacy. If we want the UK to remain a great place to start, grow and pass on a business, we must engage constructively in shaping the environment around us. That is why I spend time working with policymakers, championing private and family businesses and their philanthropic contribution, promoting long-term economic thinking and advocating for education, skills and responsible AI adoption. I believe leaders have a duty to look up and look out, to think not just about their own organisations, but about the systems that support enterprise, opportunity and social mobility. Shaping policy is not about ideology; it is about ensuring the next generation inherits an economy that works. Ultimately, legacy is personal. For me, it is about being able to say that the businesses we built were run responsibly, that our success helped others to succeed, and that we left our communities stronger than when we found them.
If family business teaches us anything, it is that the most valuable things we pass on are rarely written in the accounts, but they endure far longer.
Through its Inspiring Futures initiative, The Rigby Foundation supports young people in the West Midlands through long‑term investment in education, skills and local partnerships.
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Leg
What it means for family businesses
C. Hoare & Co.
focus and ambition. We now have 70% of colleagues enrolled in our Give-As-You-Earn scheme and customers are donating well over £100m a year to charity through our donor-advised fund. That evolution is also evident in the transformation of the Hoare family’s own charitable activity. Sustained by an annual donation of 10% of bank profits, the Golden Bottle Trust has become a place of philanthropic learning: it has moved 100% of its investments into impact investments, undertaken innovative early-stage grant programmes and even reformed its governance; last year we moved this 40-year-old charity into our donor-advised fund. Longevity confers responsibility. For long-established family businesses, legacy is not something to be preserved unchanged, but something living, requiring judgement, continuity and the quiet confidence to renew what has endured.
and more a distillation of judgement: stories, principles and lessons learned (including what to avoid). In time, that reflective record will help inform the decisions of future partners. Yet legacy need not rest with one individual alone. It can be shaped collectively through decisions taken deliberately at moments of transition. A significant moment came in 2018, as the 10th generation stepped back and the 11th took on fuller responsibility. We recognised the need to articulate, explicitly and simply, what we stood for. The result was a clear statement of purpose: to be “good bankers and good citizens”. The phrase is uncomplicated, but its effect has been profound. It took a long-held implicit principle and made it visible. Since then, it has served as a North Star. It sits at the front of board and management papers, frames discussions and informs daily decision making. Most importantly, it has brought greater coherence, helping align activity, judgement and intent. This clarity has been particularly valuable in the bank’s philanthropic work. Giving has always been part of its character, yet purpose has sharpened
It is easy to assume that, in an institution that has been operating for more than three and a half centuries, the scope for creating new legacy is limited. Rennie Hoare Twelfth generation Partner and Head of Philanthropy at C. Hoare & Co. When a business has endured that long, and when 50 members of one family have together contributed nearly 1,600 years of stewardship, it can feel as though the story is already complete. In practice, the opposite is true. Each generation of C. Hoare & Co. is a temporary custodian, entrusted with interpreting what it inherits and, in doing so, adding something of its own. My cousin Alexander Hoare has recently done just that. His book, Impact Banker , reflects on nearly 40 years’ experience as an 11th generation partner of the bank. It is less a memoir
C.Hoare & Co. building on Fleet Street
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ac y The word “legacy” can have have a multitude of meanings for family businesses and how people interpret it, and can often be quite personal. We asked four very different people from FBUK Member companies, that share more than 1,200 years of history, what legacy means to them.
Berry Bros. & Rudd
and monocultures promoted through the decades since the Second World War. Regenerative viticulture and agriculture is a key driver to help the world get to net zero CO 2 emissions. As His Royal Highness King Charles III says (and we are a proud holder of his Royal Warrant for which a business has to show a sustainable ethos and improvements each year), “we need to respect the living world and work in harmony with nature and the land”. The future of our planet and all species, including our own, depends on it. My proudest legacy will be passing on a business that lives by its purpose and values – that connects people to nature and the importance of how we look after the land, and how that shows up in the products that we drink and share.
can feel proud of and that creates a community for them, regardless of whether they work in it or not.
Quality wine is a nice to have – a luxury, even – but it’s not essential. However, what we really want to do is bring people together. As we move further to a digital world, to create a sense of belonging, enjoyment and conversation, being together in person, with wine and spirits as facilitators – as they have been for thousands of years – is crucial. Our ethos is about drinking less, but drinking better. The old paradigm of making money at the expense of the environment and society has changed. Although this has never been our ethos, in that we’ve always thought about service to customers and colleagues ahead of profit, when we look at the climate crisis as well as the general state of society, the responsibility for business has to be broadened. The first step of that journey for us was to do the work to become B Corp certified. I want to create awareness of the importance of our lands and the health of our soils. Viticulture that regenerates the land follows the same principles as agriculture whereby it promotes and values biodiversity of life both below and above ground, and is a far cry from the industrial agriculture I want BB&R to be a business that the world needs. But how can a wine business be something the world needs?
Lizzy Rudd Tenth generation Chair Berry Bros. & Rudd
If we think of legacy as representing the values and contributions that endure beyond one’s lifetime, in a business of our age (327 years) it’s deeply intertwined with ancestral legacy, with each generation of the Berry and Rudd family having shaped the business over their lifetimes, imparting their innovations, their wisdom and their values. At Berry Bros & Rudd we talk about having one foot in the past and one foot in the future as we steer our business forwards during these turbulent and rapidly changing times. Having one foot in the past grounds us and enables us to stay rooted and connected to our values, to what’s important and what really matters, versus taking relative risks and evolving into a business that’s resilient, thriving and ready to pass on to the next generation.
Berry Bros & Rudd spirits shop. Image: Joakim Blockstrom
For me personally, I want to pass on a business that the next generation
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CPJ Field
tackling loneliness and social isolation, particularly after bereavement. Never Alone has grown in ways that make us enormously proud. It includes an award-winning Community Choir, friendship and contact groups and Never Alone Buddies, a collaborative knitting project. Each initiative is built around a simple idea: human connection matters, especially when people are struggling. As a family, we are equally clear that any success CPJ Field & Co. has enjoyed over the centuries has not been achieved by our family alone. It has been built alongside remarkable colleagues whose professionalism, compassion and dedication define our business every day. Their contribution is woven into our story. So, when I think about legacy, I do not think first about age or milestones. I think about people and impact. To me, legacy is measured not by how long a company has existed, but by how well it serves others, strengthens communities, supports colleagues and enhances the society it serves.
but it is not everything in itself. For our family, legacy is about the positive impact a business can have over time; how it serves people, earns trust, supports communities and remains engaged with society through changing generations. Over the centuries, our family has conducted the funerals of huge public figures: Queen Victoria and the Duke of Wellington amongst very many others. Those moments are part of our story, but alone they are not the heart of it. The heart of our work rests in the everyday acts of service that rarely make headlines: guiding a grieving family, bringing calm in difficult moments, and helping people say goodbye with dignity and compassion. In short, our culture of service and care.
Charlie Field Co-Chief Executive and tenth generation, CPJ Field
When people hear that CPJ Field & Co. was founded in 1690, their first reaction is often surprise at the age of the business. It is understandable; relatively few companies can trace their roots back quite that far. For us, we are conscious of the privilege and responsibility that accompanies that history. Today, with my brother Jeremy Field and sister Emily Hendin, we have the honour of leading the company as the 10th generation. We oversee 40 funeral homes across the South of England, continuing a role that our great- grandparents (whose portraits stare at us from the Boardroom wall) also carried out with care and dedication. But if I am honest, legacy has never meant longevity alone.
That is where our values come to life.
Heritage matters to us, not as nostalgia, but as a duty to carry
forward the ethos of those who came before. Commitment means being dependable in life’s most difficult moments. Trust is something earned patiently and never taken for granted. Caring is, quite simply, at the centre of everything we do. My family has also always believed that business has a responsibility to contribute beyond its own commercial success. We have a responsibility to the communities that place their confidence and trust in us. That belief is reflected in The Field Family Fund, which supports grassroots charities and volunteer organisations across Sussex, our home county. It is also reflected in Never Alone, our movement dedicated to
A long history is something to respect,
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Bibby Line Group
For me, legacy is not something abstract or purely historical. It is something living, shaped by the decisions we make today and the responsibility we take for what comes next.
Camilla Smith Seventh generation Bibby Line Group
That includes a genuine commitment to giving back, whether through charitable work or through the role the business plays in its communities. From the time I’ve spent within the Group, I’ve seen that culture first hand. . The pride people take in their work, and how much emphasis is placed on collaboration and integrity, really stood out to me. It reinforces that legacy is something shared and built by people across the business, not just by one generation or one family.
What stands out most to me is the responsibility to preserve the business for those who depend on it. Thousands of people build their careers within Bibby, and many more rely on the services it provides. So legacy, to me, is partly about continuity. It’s about keeping the business strong, relevant and grounded so it can continue to offer opportunity and stability, not just for future generations of the family, but for colleagues as well.
As a seventh generation member of Bibby Line Group, I’m very aware that I’m a custodian rather than an owner of that legacy. Bibby Line Group has been built over more than 200 years by people who took a long-term view and cared about more than just financial outcomes. That mindset still shows in how the Group operates today.
I haven’t fully stepped into the business yet, and I think that’s
It’s also about values. Doing the right thing, even when it’s not the easiest option, seems to be a consistent thread through the Group’s history.
important. Spending time outside has helped me build perspective and develop in my own right. But wherever I end up, I carry a strong sense that legacy is about stewardship. It’s about looking after what’s been built and making sure it’s in a better position for the next generation.
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The family name driving cricketing legends
19th century. He was followed by Wally Hammond, whose elegance and authority between the wars cemented his status as Grace’s natural successor.
The Gray Family (left to right) Jason, Nick, Neil, Richard and Paul
Nick and Jason Gray oversee operations in Australia and New Zealand.
Ted Dexter followed, becoming another prominent figure, scoring 4,502 runs in 62 Tests, while Rachael Heyhoe Flint redefined the women’s game. Wielding a Gray-Nicolls bat, Heyhoe Flint captained England from 1966 to 1978, leading the team to victory in the inaugural Women’s World Cup in 1973. A defining moment in cricket innovation soon followed. Inspired by golf’s heel-toe weighting, Gray-Nicolls developed a bat known as the Scoop. By removing wood from the centre of the blade, the design redistributed weight to the edges, improving balance and performance. When Australian captain Greg Chappell debuted the bat in the 1974/5 Ashes series, it captured global attention.
In a fast-moving sporting landscape, where brands come and go, Gray- Nicolls has endured as a market leader by continually evolving. Innovation has been central to its longevity, ensuring it remains not just relevant, but dominant in cricket equipment manufacturing. Innovation That commitment has also made Gray-Nicolls the preferred brand for some of cricket’s most iconic figures over the past century and more. The association began with W.G. Grace, the defining cricketer of the Victorian era. His legendary beard and extraordinary performances made him the face of the sport in the late
In rural East Sussex, a family business with more than 150 years of heritage continues to shape one of the world’s biggest sports. With an estimated 2.5 billion fans, cricket is the second most popular sport globally and is set to feature at the LA 2028 Olympics. That business is Gray-Nicolls. Formed from two historic companies, Grays of Cambridge and L. J. Nicolls in Robertsbridge. The brands merged during the Second World War, with Grays taking control of the business in 1969. Today, the fifth generation of the Gray family remains at the helm: Richard, Paul and Neil Gray in the UK, while
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Demand surged. The Scoop sold out worldwide, with many of the world’s leading players, including the former West Indies Captain Sir Clive Lloyd and Indian Captain Sunil Gavaskar, soon adopting it. The design transformed bat-making and established Gray- Nicolls as the world leader, ushering in a sustained period of innovation.
As the sport entered the 21st century, the rise of global superstars expanded the sport’s reach. Players such as Sir Alastair Cook, Matthew Hayden and Kane Williamson carried the brand forward, while a new generation including Harry Brook, Travis Head and Tammy Beaumont has elevated it further.
Former England Captain Heather Knight OBE
Gray-Nicolls is proud to grow its own trees and for 100 years has established an extensive planting programme across the UK. A recent announcement by the MCC to approve laminated bats for recreational cricket from October 2026 will enable the firm to ensure that significantly more of the tree can be used for making bats. Driven by the increasing demand for cricket around the world, these new designs will allow the use of up to three pieces of willow – one for the face, one or two for the back – maximising material use and further cutting waste at a time of rapidly rising willow costs. Through constant reinvention, Gray-Nicolls has remained at the forefront of cricket for over 150 years. From W.G. Grace to the modern game’s biggest names, its equipment has shaped how cricket is played. Still in Robertsbridge, with the sixth generation now starting to become involved, this family business shows no signs of slowing down.
England batter Harry Brook
Big hitting, and big scores, eventually led Gray-Nicolls to produce a bat design known as the Kaboom – a huge but relatively light bat designed for explosive hitting. Partnering with Australia’s David Warner, whose aggressive style made the bat iconic, the Kaboom ultimately led to the MCC to regulate the size of bats. Sustainability More recently, innovation has extended beyond performance to sustainability. In 2024, Gray-Nicolls launched NEOCORE, featuring an internal scoop and a patented pinned handle. This design not only improved performance but it made previously unusable wood viable, thus reducing waste.
Former West Indies Captain Sir Clive Lloyd
Megapower and Kaboom The late 1970s and 1980s saw rapid evolution in bat construction with a twin scoop design – later dubbed the “Hookes Hurricane” after David Hookes’ explosive 1982 century – further pushing performance boundaries. Subsequent models, with names including the Dynadrive, Megapower and Scoop 2000, built on these with a young Brian Lara using the Scoop 2000 to score his maiden Test century before rewriting the record books, scoring 375 in a Test match and 501 not out in first-class cricket.
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Making Paralympic history Martin Greig talks to Davy Zyw from Berry Bros. & Rudd
brought to a premature end when he sustained a knee injury while on a magazine photoshoot. When he wasn’t snowboarding, Davy had trained as a chef and his injury forced him to turn to the kitchen full-time, where he found his second calling, and career, in wine. He remained a recreational snowboarder travelling the world with his board, and it was while he was on a trip to Whistler in British Columbia that he first experienced a numbness in his left thumb and a subsequent weakness in his left arm. A frustrating year of tests and a process of elimination eventually led to a diagnosis of MND on 6 April 2018. “I was as fit as anything,” says Davy who had run an ultra-marathon that same year. “I was in the prime of life, career going well, I just landed a job with the famous Berry Bros. & Rudd, I had an amazing girlfriend. All these things were going right, but then there was this underlying darkness.” Davy dealt with his diagnosis by throwing himself into cycling, finding an inner peace and meditation on the road. Within three months, he had entered a charity cycling event organised by the late Doddie Weir, the former Scottish rugby international who had been diagnosed with MND the year before. Weir was now campaigning to raise awareness of MND along with millions of pounds for research through his My Name’5 Doddie Foundation. After the event, Davy stood in a long queue to meet Doddie. “I eventually introduced myself to him and said I’ve
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Davy Zyw. Image: Paralympics GB
For Davy, the Milano Cortina Winter Paralympic Games were staged almost eight years to the day after his diagnosis of MND, and 26 years after he first strapped on a snowboard on an Edinburgh dry slope. “The scale of the Paralympics is really daunting,” he says. “It’s an intense environment with race officials and cameras. I was incredibly nervous, but I also had an inner peace knowing that I had achieved my dream.”
The oxygen-depleted atmosphere and unpredictable weather in the Italian Dolomites present a challenge for any snowboarder. Add the pressure of elite-level competition and a treacherous course which has caught out more than its fair share of unwary athletes, and they become a cocktail of high risk and reward. For Davy Zyw there is an additional challenge. Dropping into the starting gate in Cortina with his personal Tartan Army lining the course, he is making history – becoming the first person ever with motor Neurone Disease (MND) to compete at the Winter Paralympic Games.
Diagnosis
Having found snowboarding as a schoolboy, Davy left school at 16, moving to France to immerse himself in the sport’s culture and lifestyle. But a promising competitive career was
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“It’s a high-risk sport with high consequences,” says Davy. “I just focused on my breathing and the course in front of me. But there were so many emotions. Pulling on that starting gate was a magical moment. It has made me so proud that I’ve been able to break new ground for the MND community.” As he raced down the mountain, Davy was sporting a Doddie Weir tartan snood showing his commitment to the MND community and raising vital funds to support research.
Together with Berry Bros. & Rudd, which has supported
Davy throughout his time with the business and particularly his Paralympic dream, he has raised more than £700,000 – and plans are being hatched to push it over £1 million later this year. Lizzy Rudd, Chair of Berry Bros. & Rudd, said: “Davy is an inspiration to all of us at Berry Bros. & Rudd. I feel privileged that he’s part of our community and we’re determined to help raise awareness of MND and funding for vital research towards a cure.” If you would like to know more about Davy and his work together with Berry Bros. & Rudd” in supporting the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, or if you’d like to support his fundraising, please visit the page on the QR code or via www.justgiving.com/campaign/bbr26
Image: Paralympics GB
It is a measure of his competitive drive – and raw talent on a snowboard – that he compressed the usual four- to eight-year selection process into just 18 months, gathering enough points for selection to Team GB. “I was just so happy to be there,” says Davy. “Looking at my race results I knew I wasn’t in contention for a medal. I just wanted to finish and do my best.” But that was never going to be easy. MND means Davy needs as much oxygen as possible so coping with mountain air was just the first challenge. Then there was the course set for the Games – a steep run that pushed all the athletes to their limits. Davy himself sustained four broken ribs in a training crash two days before the race – a day that saw 10 other competitors end their Games in hospital.
just been diagnosed with MND. Doddie just gave me a massive bear hug and, from then on, we became close friends connected by this tragic coincidence.”
Breaking new ground
During the next two years, Davy ticked off a few bucket-list challenges, got married and moved back to Scotland. He told his friends and family about his diagnosis and set about raising awareness and money for MND research. Cycling Scotland’s North Coast 500 raised £300,000 for My Name’5 Doddie Foundation. Then, two years ago, Davy’s dream of combining his passion for snowboarding with the challenge of becoming the first person with MND to compete at the Winter Paralympic Games began to take shape.
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Employee ownership Why the Entertainer chose an EOT
Employee ownership
While Covid-19 may have been the trigger for the sale process, Duncan says that the outcome – 100% exit to an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) – would have been the same. “Once we had decided on a sale of the business it was really about deciding the sort of exit we wanted. As a private family business, a public sale to the markets or private equity didn’t feel like the right thing to do.” The reason the sale process then took almost five years to complete was simply that the family didn’t know much about employee ownership.
There are close to 2,500 employee-owned businesses in the UK. Arguably the most high-profile is the John Lewis Partnership, but other well-known retailers that are partly employee-owned include Lush and Richer Sounds. Very simply, an employee-owned business is one in which employees hold a “significant and meaningful” stake that combines both financial participation with a say in how the company is run.
Martin Greig spoke to Duncan Grant
In August 2025, one of Britain’s best- known brands and successful family businesses was sold. TEAL Group Holdings, the company behind The Entertainer and Early Learning Centre, handed control of the business to its staff. It was one of the most high- profile exits to employee ownership in years. The announcement took the family business community, and the business media, by surprise. But, like any successful family business succession, the deal had been years in the making. For TEAL Group, the process began around the time of the Covid-19 Pandemic. “Like a lot of people, the Pandemic made us think about our priorities and the choices we wanted to make,” says Duncan Grant, formerly Deputy Chair of TEAL Group Holdings and now a director of the new Trust board that owns the business. “It also made us acutely aware of the responsibility we had to our employees, of owning and running a retail business.”
The Grant family. From left, Stuart, founders Gary and Catherine, and Duncan
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Origins
business. “Being in Amersham and seeing employees of the business, we didn’t want to be embarrassed because we’d let them down with the sale process,” says Duncan, “and although we don’t own the business I think we still have a legitimate sense of pride and connection.” The ownership Board meets regularly and Duncan says there is a genuine warmth and excitement about the business. He questions whether that would be true had the family chosen a different exit route.
The Entertainer was founded in Amersham in 1981 by Duncan’s parents Gary and Catherine Grant when they purchased The Pram and Toy Bar and rebranded it as The Entertainer. By the time Duncan and his brother Stuart joined the business in the early 2000s, the company was trading from 35 stores, generating around £40 million revenue. A period of expansion followed with the formation of Addo Play (2015) and the acquisition of Early Learning Centre (2019). By 2025, the company had grown to 1,000 stores across Europe and about £330 million revenue. It’s a period Duncan describes as “an exciting 20 years” of growth, but also adapting to changing economic and customer dynamics like the rise of the internet and e-commerce, rapidly rising costs, subdued consumer spending growth and, of course, the pandemic.
EOTs gained in popularity in 2014 when the Government introduced 100% relief from Capital Gains for owners selling a controlling interest (more than 50%) to an EOT. That 100% relief from CGT was halved in the Autumn budget 2025, meaning exits now attract Capital Gains at 12%. Companies controlled by an EOT can also pay bonuses to employees, free of income tax, of up to £3,600 a year. For family businesses with no immediate or obvious generational succession options, employee ownership – which shares many of the core values of putting people and the welfare of employees at the heart of decision making – is often cited as one way of securing a family legacy built over generations. “The more we researched the employee ownership model, the more it felt comfortable and the right place for our business to be,” says Duncan. “It is the ownership model most akin to family ownership. It doesn’t make
Pride
As the process of embedding the Entertainer as an EOT moves forward, Duncan is still very much involved with his new role as a Director of the Trust board that owns the company, ensuring it continues to thrive for its new employee owners. He also remains close to the business, physically, in Buckinghamshire – something that, in part, influenced how the family chose to exit the
We still have a huge love for the business and we’re still cheering it on from the sidelines. If you look on the high street, there are some amazing former family businesses that have managed to maintain their values and distinctiveness despite the commercial pressure. I hope that’s where the Entertainer will be in 50 years’ time.
running the business any easier, it doesn’t make tough commercial pressures go away or stop the need to make difficult decisions. But it can inform how you choose to implement decisions in a kind and caring way.”
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Is a family office right for us?
Many U.K. business families are considering if establishing a family office is right for them. As wealth grows, business owners are discovering how a family office can provide the structure, governance, expertise and insight to help co-ordinate and manage their financial affairs outside the main operating company, while realising their financial and family-related goals and providing long term continuity across generations. A family office is created by a family (or families) to serve their financial and personal needs. Given their bespoke nature, a family office can take many different forms and do many different things. Factors such as family size and dynamics, value and complexity of assets, financial priorities and lifestyle needs can all determine what form a family office should take and what services it should provide.
CATALYSTS FOR ESTABLISHING A FAMILY OFFICE To help the family reach a shared understanding of the mission of its family office, the first step is to clarify the goals and the problem the family is trying to solve: 1. Has there been a significant increase in the complexity, diversity or size of your family’s financial wealth? 2. Has the family grown in size and preparing for continuity across generations? 3. Is the family bringing external investors/partners into their operating companies? 4. Would some family members like to focus on new business opportunities outside the main business? 5. Do you want to formalise your family’s approach to family governance, managing distributions, investments or philanthropy? 6. Could your family benefit from centralised administrative services? Advantages of a family office Families that we work with often attest to the benefits that establishing a private office can have. It allows many areas of your business and financial life to be managed through a
centralised, efficient structure. This can enable economies of scale and skilful co-ordination to optimise wealth management opportunities and diversify beyond the core business to protect and preserve long-term family wealth. “It allows many areas of your business and financial life to be managed through a centralised, efficient structure.” As the name indicates, a family office also provides a structured, fully governed way for the needs and interests of family members across generations to be taken into account. Many families — especially as they grow, move around the world and acquire different interests and priorities — view the office as an essential platform for inclusive communication and decision-making. This can be especially valuable to have in place when handing down the business and other assets. By offering a range of support services, a family office also frees you to focus on running your business and building its value, while knowing that your personal wealth structuring is working just as hard for you. At the same time, business management and personal wealth management can be clearly separated, with the family office offering strong governance to assure transparent delineation.
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• Multi Family Office This is set up to manage the wealth of multiple families and may even include non-family members as clients. Economies of scale can reduce the cost of services. A larger pool of assets can increase access to investment opportunities or investment talent. However, set against this is the potential for less family control, involvement and privacy. Considering the rising generation When you are deciding which structure is right for your needs, remember that the right family office today may look very different in the future. It is likely to evolve over time, especially as younger generations take on leadership and decision-making roles.
Types of family office There is a full spectrum of family office structures, ranging from smaller, fully outsourced operations to complex, regulated entities. Like the family business, the family office can be structured with clear governance in terms of which family members have control, input, oversight, and the processes and reporting for decision-making. Three structures that we typically see are: • Embedded Family Office Here, the family office is embedded into the operating business. There’s no need to set up a new entity and existing operational infrastructure can be used to run the office. Some services may still need to be outsourced and it’s vital to consider what happens if the business is sold or if external investors are sought. • Single Family Office (SFO) This is established and resourced to serve the needs of one family. An SFO offers the highest degree of privacy, flexibility and an in-house team dedicated to supporting your needs. Clearly, this highly bespoke approach can mean increased operational costs, but a well-run SFO can also attract top talent.
“Remember, the right family office today may look very different in the future.” A structure that has the flexibility to support this
generational evolution is key. With the right arrangement, you can ensure the optimal balance between continuity and change, and between centralised efficiency and range. This allows each family member, wherever they are, to have their needs serviced and their voice heard.
Scope of family office services
FINANCIAL
FAMILY AND SUCCESSION
LIFESTYLE AND OTHER
Family holidays and retreats Concierge and lifestyle
Family governance Estate planning and fiduciary services Philanthropy Education Succession planning
Investments Banking and custody Financing Tax and accounting Risk management
How can we help Drawing on insights and lessons learned from working with U.K. and global families over many years, J.P. Morgan recognises that growing a business is ultimately about building something that endures for generations. We can support your family office and personal wealth management needs. For more, read our J.P. Morgan Family Office 2026 Report. https://privatebank.jpmorgan.com/eur/en/insights/reports/2026-family-office-report. We would be delighted to share further insights informed by our long-standing work with families.
Authors:
To learn more contact:
Stewart Frost Managing Director J.P. Morgan Private Bank
Maya Prabhu Managing Director J.P. Morgan Private Bank
“J.P. Morgan Private Bank” is the marketing name for private banking services offered through JPMorgan Chase and its subsidiaries worldwide. © 2026 JPMorgan Chase & Co. All rights reserved.
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www.familybusinessuk.org
FBUK Corporate Partners are critical allies of our work, giving FBUK Members direct access to subject matter expertise and bespoke advisory across a range of professional services. We’re proud to have the following industry-leading companies form part of our Corporate Partner network.
Gold Partners
NatWest – a leading UK bank and provider of retail and commercial banking, growth capital and advice on equity investment and support on finding new markets
J.P. Morgan Private Bank – J.P. Morgan Private Bank supports families and entrepreneurs across the UK, with a strong presence in Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London and Bournemouth. We offer tailored financial advice and comprehensive wealth management services to clients and their families including planning, investing, lending, banking, philanthropy, family office management, fiduciary services and more
Silver Partners
Julius Bär – for more than 130 years, we at Julius Baer have managed our clients’ wealth and served them as trusted, truly personal and holistic advisors. With our roots as a family business, we know the value of long-term relationships
PwC – the UK arm of the firm with more than 160 years of experience and 5,000 people serving family businesses with advice on topics including business growth, governance, succession planning and wealth management
S&W – a leading accountancy and advisory business that serves the mid-market. S&W is one of the UK’s fastest growing accountancy firms with around 1,800 employees and more than 120 partners operating from 15 towns and cities in the UK and Republic of Ireland
Bronze Partners
Boodle Hatfield – a law firm which has partnered with individuals, families, property owners and businesses for 300 years, providing advice on property, business and private wealth issues
Boyden – is a global leadership advisory firm for private and family-owned businesses. We advise and support our clients to deliver Executive Search, Interim Management and Leadership Consulting solutions, managing executive level recruitment, succession and team performance
Clarion Solicitors – a Leeds-based law firm offering family businesses a range of services from finance and dispute resolution to data, family and private wealth advice
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Deloitte Private – connects leaders of privately held businesses, family enterprises and emerging growth companies with ideas, knowledge and experience
Farrer & Co – a specialist family business whose lawyers take pride in protecting, supporting and nurturing the clients it represents. Farrer & Co has been working with business families for generations
Freeths – a firm of 13 offices nationwide, bringing energy and innovative thinking to help clients achieve their goals. We understand the unique needs and complexities of family businesses, working closely with owners and their team of advisers to build lasting relationships and deliver seamless, tailored solutions
Hymans Robertson Personal Wealth – we’re an independent partnership helping to build better financial futures for millions of people across the UK. With over a century of history, we provide services to organisations and individuals across pensions, investments and insurance
KPMG – to support the unique needs of family businesses, KPMG Enterprise manages a global network dedicated to offering relevant information and advice to family-owned businesses
LGT – a UK-based wealth management firm that is part of LGT, the world’s largest private bank and asset manager owned by a single family, the Princely House of Liechtenstein, for over 80 years
Lockton – the world’s largest privately owned insurance broker and risk advisory firm whose personal approach delivers boundary-pushing solutions for individuals, families and businesses all over the world
Redgrave – a leading executive search firm offering search and interim support, board-level recruitment, talent assessment and development, transition planning and advisory
Saxton Bampfylde – the UK’s first employee-owned search firm that understands the nuances and importance of ownership regarding talent, leadership and transitioning between generations
Western Pension Solutions – a specialist pensions consultancy owned by the Vestey family, providing strategic advice to family businesses on how to manage their legacy-defined benefit pension schemes
For more information about our Corporate Partners, or to contact us about becoming a Partner, scan the QR code.
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A new Policy Agenda for family businesses
Our new Policy Agenda: Building Britain for Generations sets out clear, practical recommendations to create a fairer, more competitive environment for family businesses. Developed over the last six months, in partnership with FBUK Members, and launched at our inaugural Policy Summit hosted by NatWest, it is designed to inspire fresh conversations with policymakers urging them to adopt a FAMILY-first approach. The timing of the Policy Agenda is deliberate. Published on the eve of the most significant change to the taxation of family businesses in a generation changes to BPR/APR). The UK needs a tax system that works for, not against, family businesses. That is why
we will continue to press for the full reinstatement of Inheritance Tax reliefs, with no thresholds. A key focus of the Policy Agenda, and our campaign moving forward, is how the Government must do more to support mid-sized family businesses, including those rapidly scaling, with the potential to deliver significant growth. Today, these businesses are largely ignored by a system that focuses on small or large. That must change. The “missing middle” is critical, as Tim Wates argues opposite. I would urge everyone to read and download the Policy Agenda – details of how to do so are in the following pages – and use it to start your own conversations with your local representatives.
Matthew Jaffa, Director of Policy and Public Affairs
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Family businesses and the construction sector How the “missing middle” can fuel economic growth
We have built a business with 6,223 employees and a £2.56 billion turnover. We proudly generate jobs, deliver major public sector projects, and contribute our full and fair share to HM Treasury. In 2025, we paid or collected on HM Treasury’s behalf more than £500 million. We believe it’s right to pay our taxes, but are not happy when taxation leaves us unfairly disadvantaged versus our competitors and hampers our efforts to generate growth – hurting us and UK economy. At a time when the UK needs scale, resilience and long-term investment in the whole construction supply chain, the changes to BPR disadvantage the very firms best placed to deliver it. Wates Group grew through decades of reinvestment, patience and stewardship. Restricting BPR undermines that model, forcing capital out of the business when it should be deployed for growth. The result will be fewer firms being able to make the leap from mid-sized to market-leading just when the economy can least afford it. The Government should reconsider its position on BPR to promote the shared national priority of growth and its related social and economic benefits.
delivery to see what really works and long‑term enough in outlook to invest in better trained people and stronger technical competence. With the right support, they can help embed modern methods, digital tools and disciplined assurance into everyday delivery. A potential big win for the economy. Alongside other tax headwinds, these mid-sized firms are being hurt by the Government’s drastic reduction of Business Property Relief (BPR). Without BPR, Inheritance Tax is payable on the entire value of a company. Indicatively, a company worth £30m will suffer an Inheritance Tax charge of £5m on the death of the owner. With much value tied up in non-liquid assets and operating capital, some businesses will struggle to pay substantial capital sums of this nature. Indeed, some will have to be sold or broken up to pay the Inheritance Tax. To make matters worse, the Inheritance Tax is paid after income or dividend tax, so it is effectively double taxation. This fundamentally skews the playing field – as listed, foreign-owned, or PE-backed firms are free from such taxation. By removing full BPR, the Government is undermining its own efforts to foster growth. Family businesses of all sizes must now divert funds away from investing in business growth and towards preparing for the possible (and unpredictable) death of a shareholder. I join Family Business UK in calling for a full independent review of the new policy to assess its impact on jobs and economic growth.
Tim Wates Chairman, Wates Group
Many of the Government’s key objectives – from building 1.5 million new homes to delivering essential infrastructure – require a strong construction sector. Indeed, the built environment is critical for broader economic growth, delivering nearly £3 in economic value for every £1 invested. With the vast majority of construction businesses being family owned, the link between supporting family businesses and economic growth is clear. It is important for the Government to recognise this connection. While attention often falls on large contractors like the Wates Group to deliver major housing and infrastructure projects, SMEs represent critical parts of the construction supply chain. So, I’m pleased to see FBUK’s Policy Agenda champion the “missing middle”.
The Wates Group is now in its fourth generation of family ownership.
In the construction sector, mid‑sized businesses are close enough to
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