COMPANY HISTORY

Brief history of the FLETCHER STEWART company...

Fletcher Stewart began life as a partnership in 1967. Formed by Alan Fletcher and John Stewart the business was engaged in hard and soft landscaping, working with a mixed commercial and domestic customer base. In the early seventies the partnership was dissolved and the business became the sole property of Alan Fletcher. retaining the now familiar and recognised trading style of ‘Fletcher Stewart’.

As the business developed so more interesting work was offered and the company worked for Granada Film Studios where they were engaged in large landscaping projects.

Notably working on projects connected to Follyfoot and the Family at War series, the company took on ever more difficult projects including defoliation to mimic the effects of winter and refoliation of a dead tree so that it would appear alive. For the Family at War series it was necessary to replicate part of the Western Desert in the sand dunes at Southport.
 
Towards the late seventies the company slowly moved into the sales and repair of small landscaping machinery. This move was well received and with an increasing customer base the company withdrew from the landscaping business altogether and concentrated solely on machinery and equipment. Further consolidations and an increase in business prompted a move to larger premises in Stockport and by the mid eighties the company was offering a complete range of grounds maintenance machinery to a range of professional customers.

In 1985 the company was approached to import the Tünnissen & Stocks range of woodchippers from Germany. This range quickly became established in the UK under the Kwikchip branding. This proved to be hugely successful and established Fletcher Stewart firmly in the forestry and arboricultural sector.

Whilst an increasing penetration into the Forestry and Arboricultural markets was proceeding, increased competition was becoming apparent in other areas of the business. As a result in 1995 the company took a decision to relinquish its major grass machinery franchise Jacobsen . Deciding to concentrate on the Forestry and Arboricultural markets.

In 2000 the company began the limited sale of arboricultural sundries; this was in direct response to local demand. As soon as it became known that these items were available demand rocketed and the next few years witnessed a rapid period of growth in this product sector. So much so, that meeting the demand became too difficult by sourcing product in the UK alone.

As a result Fletcher Stewart began to source a range of items directly from manufactures around the world. This consolidated the supply chain and began to generate requests from the dealer network to act as a wholesaler.

By 2005 a small dealer network had been established with dealers having access to a range of equipment that was being imported or sourced in the UK by the company.

This was complemented by the decision to allow both the Jo-Beau & Tünnissen woodchippers to be sold through the dealers rather than solely from the Stockport base.

As a result of the growth in the dealer element of the business Fletcher Stewart has decided that this is the way to continue to expand the business.

With a nationwide network of over 40 core dealers covering the United Kingdom and Eire, Fletcher Stewart can boast to have one of the most comprehensive ranges of arborist equipment available through any one supplier in the country, if not Europe.

Dealers are able to source stock not only from Stockport but also from each other, ensuring that customers are kept satisfied.

What has proved to have been a huge contribution to the success of the dealer network has been the attention paid to dealer training and support.

In August 2006 Fletcher Stewart arranged dealers to attend a training seminar together, this allowed them not only to familiarise themselves with the products but actually use them in ‘real life‘ situations.

The purpose of this was that if dealers have a level of practical knowledge and an understanding of what the end user requires, then they could offer the best advice and discuss the various merits of equipment from an informed viewpoint.

The future is still being written....