Douglas and Malcolm Clark – Sixty years of enterprise

With the opening this month of Buntsford Business Centre, their latest development, brothers Douglas and Malcolm Clark are finally calling time on their commercial journey.

For more than 60 years Clark’s have brought significant prosperity to Bromsgrove and other nearby towns, so it’s fitting that 60 makes it a diamond occasion.

Douglas will tell you with a smile that they are proud of the rough diamond heritage of, in his words, “a couple of Clampetts from Chaddesley”

He started work at Rednal Garage in 1959 as a selftaught mechanic in addition to playing lead guitar in a rock ’n’ roll band. He chose mechanics over possible stardom and 60 years later that has proved to be a very wise decision.

Malcolm joined him as soon as he was old enough and they have enjoyed a life-long, unconditional friendship as well as an enduring business partnership.

The brothers have had an uncanny knack of recognising opportunities, whether this was in garages, dealerships, or other commercial projects. Golden rules being never acting on a whim or a blind gamble; always do extensive research, carefully chosen partnerships and total commitment to the project in hand. If it was a customled business, then the customer always came first.

Opportunities need funding and Douglas admits the brightest move they made in the early 80s was to set up a small, self-administered pension scheme. This was something they were introduced to by Lloyds TSB financial wizard Robin Hunter, where accumulated profits were put straight into the SSAS (later to become a SIPP) and then used to buy and develop land and businesses. Interest was charged by the fund on the loan and that too was re-invested.

The first momentous Bromsgrove venture using the fund occurred when they put forward a plan to the district council to transform an austere area at the top of the town.

The old Midland Red bus garage on Birmingham Road had been empty and up for sale with no takers for several years. On the opposite side of the road, Bromsgrove’s oldest car sales company Bryant’s - specialising in Austins - was near to closure. If this happened, the area would become even more desolate –not the image BDC wanted to project to visitors to the Victoria Ground, home of Bromsgrove Rovers FC.

Clark’s acquired the crumbling old depot and transformed it into an architecturally attractive MG Rover dealership and state-of-the-art service centre.

They also purchased the land next door with a house on it that was right by the main road; this became and remains the popular Mint Lounge restaurant.

Simultaneous to developing the Birmingham Road site, another opportunity arose. A two- acre site the Post Office had earmarked in Aston Fields for their new sorting office unexpectedly became available. The Post Office decided instead to move to a ready-made building in Sherwood Road. Clark’s BW-SIPP snapped up the land with the intention of using it for vehicle storage and preparation centre for the dealerships.

Events dictated a different course of action. With the ink barely dry on the land deal, the American supermarket giant Safeway approached them with a view to buying it from them to build their Bromsgrove superstore. To make it work, it needed more land than the Clarks’ newly acquired two acres, however. It so happened that adjacent to the Aston Fields site was the council depot where, among other vehicles and equipment, refuse collection lorries were stored.

Douglas Clark introduced Safeway’s management team to the district council who agreed to add their land to Clark’s. Before a deal could be finalised however, a solution to the original Clark’s BW-SIPP purpose of purchasing a site for vehicle storage and preparation had to be found.

It so happened that a looming catastrophe brought with it a solution. The council let Clark’s know that a bombshell was about to be announced - Bromsgrove’s biggest employer and cornerstone of the local economy, car component manufacturer Garringtons, founded in 1948, announced it was to close with the loss of more than 500 jobs.

Sad news though this was, Douglas and Malcolm saw an opportunity to develop a prosperous new business area. The main Garringtons factory was located in Sherwood Road, Aston Fields. Clark’s, together with BDC executives Bob Lewis and Bob Bradshaw devised a plan to develop this area.

The prime objective was to provide opportunity to both existing and fledgling companies to thrive in a brand new, purposebuilt environment.

The Safeway deal was also struck and Clark’s BW-SIPP got the site they needed for the designated purpose and much more besides. The arrival of Safeway created many new jobs for local people and brought food shopping to the community on the town’s outskirts. Now Safeway is Morrisons.

As part of the new Aston Road development, a sewage plant became highly visible. Clark’s screened this by planting numerous evergreens so that it became unobtrusive. Today this has matured to where it is not only a complete screen but has also become a haven for wildlife.

Another part of the scheme was the highly praised Silver Birches Business Park, which included a conference centre and an assortment of multi-purpose units.

Clark’s BW-SIPP also constructed most of the other buildings, which have mushroomed around the Aston Road area.

Douglas and Malcolm look back on this time with great pride; they brought diversity, employment, and opportunity. It was a major turning point that helped achieve near zero unemployment in Bromsgrove. Even with all the diversion into other areas, Clark’s continued to expand their core business of car dealerships. By the mid-1990s they had dealerships and service centres in Rednal, Lickey, Marlbrook, Longbridge, Hagley, Halesowen, Kidderminster, Redditch and Stourbridge - as well as Bromsgrove.

The last addition was Toyota and to house that they designed and built another architecturally unique showroom next to their MG Rover outlet on Birmingham Road. Today these buildings are demolished and a shopping complex erected.

Clark’s BW-SIPP purchased 11 acres on Buntsford Hill to create a Motor Village, not theirs of course but they sold the idea and the land. Many multi-car franchise dealerships now reside there offering new and used vehicles in a one-stop environment – history and progress.

Alongside the business, Douglas and Malcolm shared their success with the community and took an equally unique approach to charity, for instance with the pioneering scheme Clark’s in School.

Through this initiative, Clark’s have given significant funding to Bromsgrove state schools for the sole purpose of buying equipment that would not otherwise have been provided. They have enabled schools to purchase arts equipment such as pottery kilns and technology including computers for the classroom.

Douglas Clark talked at school assemblies on a weekly basis, firing up young people to prepare them for the business world waiting for them once they left academia.

In addition to the schools project, they also provided two 18-seater coaches for clubs and community groups to use free of charge. This included taking the elderly on excursions, schools on trips to museums, art galleries and theatres and sports clubs to out-of-town matches.

Clark’s Motor Group Ltd became the major sponsor of Bromsgrove Rovers FC and repainted the stands at one point.

At its peak, Clark’s employed 460 full-time people and many more part-timers. They purchased locally wherever possible and were always mindful of ‘Community First’. Clark’s were the first local company to achieve the prestigious Investors In People status.

Buntsford Business Centre incorporates the core values the Clarks have put into all their developments; uniqueness in design, constructed of quality materials and providing the most modern opportunity to the latest generation of Bromsgrove business entrepreneurs.

When asked if he had any regrets, Douglas said “Just one really – when MG Rover collapsed, we put in a bid to take it over which was rejected. I like to think had we been successful cars would still be being made in Longbridge today.”

Sixty years of business creation and enterprise in Bromsgrove must surely put the Clark brothers high on the pedestal for bringing prosperity to the town.

Written by Euan Rose | Artwork by Mike Hatcher