Andy Brown with his family (L-R wife Susan, son Oliver, daughter Helen and grandson) Successful local entrepreneur, Andy Brown, is a true advocate of the lifestyle offer here in Burnley and has several loves! His first love - his family, the centre of his world, at the heart of Andy’s life and work, with every family member whatever their age (including the dog) involved in family life and business; his second love - his automobiles, he just loves them and is a quite a collector (not sure what Mrs Brown thinks!); his third a love of horses and all things equestrian, and last but certainly not least his love for his hometown of Burnley. His life and loves have led to the creation of his successful award winning business which has transformed Burnley’s visitor offer. A business which is centred around everything he loves, Andy has created an outstanding leisure and equestrian centre, global award winning spa and the contemporary Bertram’s Restaurant set amongst Burnley’s stunning countryside. He doesn’t have to travel far to start his working day, as his beautiful home is just minutes across the fields to the state of the art Crow Wood Leisure, Woodland Spa and Equestrian Centre complex. Andy has spent all his life in Burnley and made huge investments in his home town as he believes Burnley is a wonderful place with lots to offer visitors and people looking for a change in lifestyle. Burnley is becoming a new commuter destination, with a superb lifestyle offer on the doorstep with Andy’s stunning leisure and equestrian facility part of that lifestyle asset. Andy tells the editor of Burnley Magazine about his life growing up in Burnley and the upbringing which has made him the passionate, hardworking family man and entrepreneur he is today… 36
“I am lucky to have been brought up in the Ightenhill area of Burnley, arguably one of the borough’s nicest districts. Both of my parents were born in Burnley, my mother’s parents had a greengrocers in Lyndhurst Road and she trained and worked as a hairdresser. My father lost his dad in an industrial accident on the railway where he worked as a ticket collector, crushed as he was coupling a carriage. My father became the bread winner of the family whilst very young and built up from scratch a sizeable business employing at its peak 300 people. “The business he built suffered in the late seventies recession and he died in 1978 from cancer, leaving my eldest brother David and I working in that business.
His fi rst love - his family, the centre of his world “Through the eighties and nineties we built up a very successful office machine, furniture and stationery business which we sold to a London based company in 1997. “I effectively retired at forty and having had a small investment in David Lloyd leisure clubs, I took an interest in building a leisure facility in Burnley. “In 2001 I had opened a new facility at Crow Wood, which I had bought 12 months earlier as a working dairy farm. Over the last fourteen years the business has continued to grow and now incorporates a very successful