syd bishop & sons – 80th anniversary
Watch It Come Down…
S
yd Bishop & Sons is about to celebrate its 80th year in business. Eight decades, four generations and a considerable amount of rubble on, the company remains at the vanguard of the demolition industry. When Syd Bishop took the decision to enter the world of demolition back in 1929, he probably had no idea that he was also creating an industry dynasty, one that would still be at the forefront of the business he loved, and one that still employs almost a dozen of his descendants to this day.
Steeplejack roots
director Terry Bishop. “But despite those relatively humble beginnings, he always set high standards of professionalism and workmanship.” Today, those twin values are synonymous with the company’s familiar “Watch It Come Down” slogan, the origins of which are somewhat shrouded in mystery. “One version of the story says my father overheard a bystander comment ‘now watch it come down’ just before a chimney was about to be felled. Another is that it was suggested by a hitch-hiker my father picked up and who had heard the slogan associated with a demolition company in the US,” Terry explains. “Either way, it’s a slogan that stuck. And throughout the 1950s and 60s, Syd was known as Mr Watch It Come Down”.
Having previously worked as a steeplejack for a number of demolition companies in those largely pre-plant days, Syd’s formidable physical strength saw him at ease with hand demolition. And when the opportunity came to start his own company – earning a sixpence for himself rather than a shilling for someone else – he seized it with both hands. Within a few short years, Bishop’s professional, hardworking and no-nonsense approach had earned his company a formidable reputation across Kent that would ultimately extend nationally. “The company that Syd started we recognise today as Syd Bishop & Sons was run from his kitchen table,” says Syd’s son and current managing
Terry says his father had a work ethic that bordered upon the workaholic, something that was evident even when the family gathered to celebrate Syd’s birthday each Boxing Day. “Syd basically didn’t believe in holidays,” Terry recalls. “Regardless of the fact that it was Christmas and his birthday, sooner or later, we’d all end up around the table talking about work.” The fact that Terry was the boss’s son carried very little weight with the man he still refers to affectionately as “the old fellah”. “I left school at 15 years old and finished on a Friday afternoon and the old fellah made sure I was on site at six o’clock the following morning,” he continues. “I was earning 25 shillings per week, the same as the other guys on site. But it’s that lack of favouritism towards Bishop family members that has made us what we are today.” What they are today is a highly regarded demolition company that operates nationally, employs more than 140 people and operates a young, well-maintained plant and vehicle fleet that is the envy of many of its larger peers.
www.sydbishop.co.uk
It’s all a far cry from Syd Bishop’s day when vehicles were often seen as a necessary evil. “The company joined the National Federation of Demolition Contractors in 1955, and we remain members to this day. When my father attended one of his first NFDC meetings he arrived in his pride and joy, a Humber Super Snipe, to be greeted by other members driving Rolls Royces and Bentleys,” Terry says. “My father merely shrugged and said ‘at least mine’s paid for’.” Syd Bishop sadly passed away in 1971, entrusting his wellestablished company to sons David, Michael and Terry and to daughter Kathleen, the latter two of which remain active in the company today.
Major contracts Over the years, Syd Bishop & Sons has worked the length and breadth of the UK, even hopping over to the Isle of Wight and down to the West Country when the need arose. The company has been responsible for many well-known and high-profile demolition projects, including both the new Docklands Light Railway extension and the refurbishment of the O2 Arena. In 1986, the company also demolished the Bricklayer’s Arms in Bermondsey, once Europe’s largest goods depot. Strangely, the company also developed something of an expertise in reducing former sporting venues to so much rubble; the Oval Cricket Ground and both the Newbury and Newmarket race courses falling before the might of the company’s equipment fleet.
Early Adopter From its hand-demolition roots, the company has grown to become a pioneer of the very latest techniques in both the demolition and recycling fields, and achieving a reputation as an “early-adopter” of new forms of equipment. “I witnessed the switch from
hand to mechanical demolition first-hand,” says Terry Bishop. “Our first machine was an Aveling Barford rope shovel with a 0.2 m3 capacity bucket. I remember it well because I was the operator.” More recently, Syd Bishop & Sons has been quick to embrace any equipment developments that might make operations safer and more productive. “We were one of the first UK demolition contractors to purchase Allied LaBounty shears; we were one of the first to purchase a trackmounted mobile crusher; and we were also among the first to import the US-manufactured DustBoss dust suppression system to the UK,” asserts resident plant expert and director, Stephen Bishop. “And we were also a pioneer of the move towards high reach machines, buying a Hitachi EX600 excavator with a 36m upward reach.” A trawl through the archives of Syd Bishop & Sons’ plant fleet ownership reveals another telling