It is undoubtedly the end of an era when a local employer dating back into the 1960s closes. This is the case with Robinsons Caravans, who have been at their Ringwood Road, Brimington site since 1989. In this post we take a brief look at the company who have been part of the caravan and motorhome world since the 1960s.
We have chronicled developments and more recently ownership changes in successive articles within our ‘Chronicle of local events’ section, via our yearly publication Brimington and Tapton Miscellany. Most notable events are therefore extracted from this source (in which you’ll find them more fully referenced). Firstly, though, we must express our thoughts to members of staff made redundant and also customers who may be caught up in the site’s closure.
Foundation
According to information from Companies House, Robinsons Caravans Ltd was originally incorporated on 9 May 1963 (company number 00760493), by John Ernest Robinson and Margaret Anne Robinson. Both were of 5 Pettyclose Lane, Tapton. Mr Robinson was described as ‘master baker’. They were to acquire Mrs Robinson’s ‘caravan hirers’ business of the same address (but this doesn’t mean to say she had a pitch there!)
The business for many years were based at Whittington, before a move to the former Ringwood Garage’s site in 1989. Ringwood were notable for being amongst the area’s first Datsun franchise. Datsun later transformed into Nissan.
Changes
Radical changes to the Robinson business started in 2019. These ultimately resulted in the family effectively severing their long-standing interest in the business, still at this time, with their registered offices at Ringwood Road, operating premises both there and in Worksop. If you want to know a bit more about these changes (which are a little complicated) we’d suggest you get hold of a copy of our Miscellany 12 and 13. In 2019 this ended up with a public limited liability company being formed in that year with 40 partners.
There was another major development in March 2020, with the announcement that Robinsons Caravans Ltd. had been acquired by MBH Corporation plc , who were described as a UK public company offering a new approach to SME (small and medium enterprise) investment.
Robinsons, then the 11th company to join MBH, had been acquired at a cost of between £7.2m and £8.6m, including the assets valued at approximately £2.5m. The former managing CEO of Robinsons Caravans – Mr Paul Seabridge – was billed as leading a number of group companies aligned to the leisure industry – these later transpired to be three other caravan and motorhome dealers.
The Robinsons business was undoubtedly impacted by Covid lock-downs uncertainty. It did, though, receive a boost from the government’s Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme. The facility was made available by HSBC UK. Robinsons had had to close its accessories and equipment department, but was able to maintain at least partial trading from such things as ‘virtual viewings’.
In 2021 there was some debate on Facebook about the future of Robinsons as their sales pitch appeared to be emptying. This was coupled with speculation about supermarket chain Aldi announcing that they were looking for expansion sites – Brimington included. This was swiftly dismissed by the company, who pointed out that stock was being run down due to the expectation of new models arriving – which they duly did.
Success
Our Miscellany has chronicled the relative success of the company. For example in 2018 they had 82 employees (across the two sites) with a profit of some £949,000 before tax. It was then 31st in small and medium enterprises in the area, and improvement on its 34th place the previous year.
The next year (2019) it was 30th, with an operating profit of £718,170. The reduction was then put down to lower than expected sales, wage inflation and competition, all coupled with uncertainty caused by the UK’s exit from the European Union.
Liquidation
In what was billed as a shock announcement Interpath Advisory were appointed as administrators of the collapsed Golden Castle Caravans Ltd and Robinson Caravans Limited business on 11 March and 14 March respectively. Both companies were part of Robinsons Caravans. Golden Castle, based in Gloucestershire, were sold immediately. The Worksop part of Robinsons was also sold, with nine members of staff transferring to the new owners Storebon Holdings Ltd. Unfortunately it appears that the Brimington part of the business was deemed unprofitable and was closed with immediate effect. 16 staff lost their jobs and customers were caught up in the aftermath of this sudden closure. The closure also featured on BBC regional news, with a report from outside the premises.
Underpinning all this is the MBH Corporation plc, who have also been declared insolvent. Their website disappeared overnight on the 22/23 March, by which time the Robinsons site carried only an announcement that it was undergoing maintenance. Presumably, at some stage, we will learn of the impact that the MBH failure had on Robinsons or, indeed, the latter’s profitability had on MBH.
In a statement made to the Derbyshire Times shortly after closure of the Brimington business David Robinson stated;
‘We sold Robinsons Caravans in 2019 to Paul Seabridge, to be paid over an agreed period. Unfortunately, shortly after, Mr Seabridge was unable to maintain the payments and at this time he introduced us to MBH Corporation, a PLC listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, with the outstanding debt transferring to a bond maturing in 2025.’
Not without controversy at Brimington
Robinson’s tenure of the Brimington site has not been without controversy, particularly as they sought to grow the business and, consequently, their site.
Many will know that the basic format of the Brimington site was for many years the successful Ringwood Motors business, foundered by the Bradley brothers, but Robinsons have grown the site over the years.
In 2008 the company had demolished number 8 Ringwood Road in order to make extension to hard-standing for the business. Some thought that the further intrusion of a business into a residential area was unwarranted.
The Corner House public house – which stood on the corner of Ringwood Road and High Street, had been converted from an empty shop unit – formerly Howarth’s newsagents (and before that Nash’s). It opened as such in 1998. But by 2012 it had closed and was up for sale. It was purchased by Robinson’s and demolished in 2016. They used this as an extension to their sales pitch and stock yard.
The company have also been criticised, in some circles, for failure to invest properly in some of the property – notably the house attached to the main show room. This hasn’t been painted for some time – certainly not since Robinsons moved to the site in 1989. It is currently used as offices/storage area.
The future
What is the future for the Robinsons business?
It appears that, for now, the name will live on at Worksop, but a Brimington resurgence seems unlikely. No-doubt the future of the site, which is as we write this blog is nearly emptied of caravans, will cause some speculation during the coming months – and we will not enter into speculation on this now.
We will end, though by highlighting the current economic circumstances which may have contributed to the demise of a once successful and expanding business. And once again reflect on the effect that closure of that business will have on staff and customers.
Sources used in this blog include:
Brimington and Tapton Miscellany, 1 (2008); 6 (2014); 7 (2015); 9 (2017); 10 (2018); 11 (2019); 12 (2020); 13 (2021).
Various recent Derbyshire Times newspaper reports and company liquidation reports as hyperlinked.
Brimington and Tapton Local History Group 