Bayford & Co
Encyclopedia
Bayford & Co is a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
petrol and oil
Oil
An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....
distribution company founded in 1919 in Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The Company has grown to a group with a Turnover of £335 million and profits of £2.0 million in 2006-07. Bayford is No. 58 in the Sunday Times Top Track 250
Top Track 250
The Top Track 250 is a list published by British newspaper The Sunday Times each year ranking Britain's top 250 Mid-market private companies by their turnover over the previous year, from published accounts.- Sunday Times 2010 Top Track 250 :...
List of Companies.
History
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
who decided to pool their resources to establish a coal agents business. Whilst searching for a suitable title for their enterprise, they hit on the idea of using the name of the Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
village of Bayford
Bayford, Hertfordshire
Bayford is a village and civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 435...
where they had been demobilized at the end of the war. They were joined by Frederick Turner as an office junior. He eventually rose to become the Company Chairman and remained so until the 1970s. The Bayford company maintained a steady growth in the solid fuel business in the first period of its life - successfully weathering difficult periods such as the General Strike, World War II and the nationalisation of the coal industry. The firm then diversified into the petrol and oil distribution business as coal declined.
David Turner (the present Chairman) joined his father Frederick in the business in 1958 and in 1962 it was David Turner’s decision to start selling oil, based on the view that as more and more people were turning from coal to oil for home heating, “one followed the customer or lost the business”.
In 1967 Bayford moved to new premises in Pepper Road, off Hunslet Road, Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
and Bayford also began importing cargoes of oil from abroad via Immingham
Immingham
Immingham is a town in North East Lincolnshire, located on the south bank of the Humber Estuary...
, to feed its Fleet storage facility and its tankers. This was a first for a UK independent company.
In 1969 Bayford decided to market low price petrol. The name Thrust was inspired by news reports of Concorde
Concorde
Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde was a turbojet-powered supersonic passenger airliner, a supersonic transport . It was a product of an Anglo-French government treaty, combining the manufacturing efforts of Aérospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation...
’s maiden flight and the description of the “tremendous thrust” of its engines. The first petrol pump to carry the new sign, complete with the Concorde insignia, was in Ossett
Ossett
Ossett is a market town within the metropolitan borough of the City of Wakefield, in West Yorkshire, England. It is located on junction 40 of the M1 motorway, half-way between Dewsbury, to the west, and Wakefield, to the east. In the 2001 census, it was classified as part of the West Yorkshire...
, West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
. Motorists soon began to realise that they had had enough of promotional gimmicks and would prefer to keep the cash – Thrust offered savings of up to six old pence per gallon. Thrust rapidly built up to a chain of 45 outlets by the end of 1970 and 85 by 1972.
In 1970 Bayford Developments started trading by purchasing investment properties in Biggin Hill
Biggin Hill
Biggin Hill is an area and electoral ward in the outskirts of the London Borough of Bromley in southeast London, United Kingdom.-History:Historically the settlement was known as Aperfield and formed part of the parish of Cudham...
and Mitchum
Mitchum
Mitchum is a brand of antiperspirant-deodorant, launched in 1970 by Revlon. It is widely known for its marketing slogan, "So effective you can skip a day"....
in Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
.
In June 1974 the Yorkshire Evening Post
Yorkshire Evening Post
The Yorkshire Evening Post is a daily evening publication published by Yorkshire Post Newspapers Ltd in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
carried a full-page article for the firms Burley Road Filling Station, a station that had been acquired a year earlier and extensively re-furbished. Following the switch to Thrust, sales increased from 36,000 litres a week to 200,000 litres, with prices of 50.6 pence per gallon for Two Star and 52.6 pence for Five Star (Old Fuel Rating prior to RON No.) By 1976 Bayford was delivering 100,000 tones of coal each week to Yorkshire’s power station
Power station
A power station is an industrial facility for the generation of electric energy....
s, after striking an agreement with the CEGB (Central Electricity Generating Board). Bayford continued to supply significant quantities of coal into the 1990s, and during the 1980s were also supplying some 3 million litres of oil per day to the region’s power stations. By June, Bayford was supplying over one hundred sites in Yorkshire, Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
, Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire is a county in the East Midlands of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west...
, Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
and the North of Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
.
By 1979 the company's 15 acres (60,702.9 m²) storage depot by the Aire and Calder Canal at Woodlesford's annual throughput of fuel had risen to 150,000 tons per year. “Fleet” had given Bayford total control of their storage and distribution network, from the refinery gates right through to the customer.
Bayford was still heavily involved in the coal market in the 1980s. At its peak, Bayford Mining was producing from sites in Yorkshire, Lancashire and in the North and East of Scotland. The average life of an opencast mine was around eighteen months, after which time the land was restored to its former use.
In 1988 Bayford moves into new headquarters at Bowcliffe Hall
Bowcliffe Hall
Bowcliffe Hall is located at Bramham near Leeds, Northern England.-History:Construction of Bowcliffe Hall was begun in 1805 by William Robinson, a cotton spinner from Manchester. After completing only the West Wing, Robinson sold the property for £2000 to John Smyth, who finished the estate...
in Bramham
Bramham cum Oglethorpe
Bramham cum Oglethorpe, more well known as just "Bramham", is a village and civil parish in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough, West Yorkshire, England.- Overview :According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 1,715...
– a 19th century listed building next to the Bramham Park
Bramham Park
Bramham Park is a country house between Leeds and Wetherby, West Yorkshire, England. The Baroque mansion was built in 1698 by Robert Benson, 1st Baron Bingley. It has remained in the ownership of Benson's descendents since its completion in 1710...
Grounds.
In the first of several acquisitions, Bayford took over Holderness Fuel Supplies Ltd in 1991. Holderness had a throughput of 35 million litres from three depots, in Leeds, Killingholme
Killingholme
Killingholme is an area of Lincolnshire, comprising the villages of North Killingholme and South Killingholme. It is the site of two oil refineries, the Humber Refinery and Lindsey Oil Refinery, and an liquid petroleum gas storage facility .It is also a fast expanding port, handling RORO ferries...
on Humberside and Malton
Malton, North Yorkshire
Malton is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. The town is the location of the offices of Ryedale District Council and has a population of around 4,000 people....
in North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county primarily in that region but partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest...
. Bayford bought out British Fuel’s share of the Fleet Storage facility at Woodlesford
Woodlesford
Woodlesford is a village in the metropolitan county of West Yorkshire, England, six miles south-east of Leeds city centre. It is in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough. Woodlesford is formerly part of the Rothwell Urban District...
in 1993. Bayford acquired twenty-two Yorkshire filling stations from Elf Oil (UK) Ltd and seven petrol station sites in the North East from Texaco, which were operated under the Thrust Petroleum brand in 1994. Bayford acquired the commercial oil business, Burmah Petroleum Fuels Ltd in 1995. The move effectively tripled the size of Bayford’s oil business and made it Britain's largest privately owned distributor of commercial oils.
Transport Minister Glenda Jackson
Glenda Jackson
Glenda May Jackson, CBE is a British Labour Party politician and former actress. She has been a Member of Parliament since 1992, and currently represents Hampstead and Kilburn. She previously served as MP for Hampstead and Highgate...
officially opened the refurbished storage depot, at Woodlesford, near Leeds, in 1999. Bulk fuel supplies were now delivered to the depot by barge
Barge
A barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Some barges are not self-propelled and need to be towed by tugboats or pushed by towboats...
from East coast refineries, using the Aire and Calder canal. This would save an estimated 16,000 road tanker journeys over the next five years - a fact which helped Bayford to secure a Freight Facilities Grant (FFG). Total investment in the site was over £300,000.
Jonathan Turner was appointed Managing Director of the "Bayford Group" in 2000.
Bayford Thrust obtained the permit for the sale of Leaded Four Star. Whilst banning the sale of leaded fuel, the Government (after heavy lobbying by the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs) agreed to make a limited volume available to special interest groups. Bayford is the only company to have a nationwide distributor permit.
Bayford acquired BP’s northern commercial fuel business, Dominion Oils (previously Wayahead Fuels). This included depots in Halifax
Halifax, West Yorkshire
Halifax is a minster town, within the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England. It has an urban area population of 82,056 in the 2001 Census. It is well-known as a centre of England's woollen manufacture from the 15th century onward, originally dealing through the Halifax Piece...
, Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
and York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
, complementing the existing operations in Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, Northallerton
Northallerton
Northallerton is an affluent market town and civil parish in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire, England. It lies in the Vale of Mowbray and at the northern end of the Vale of York. It has a population of 15,741 according to the 2001 census...
, Keighley
Keighley
Keighley is a town and civil parish within the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated northwest of Bradford and is at the confluence of the River Aire and the River Worth...
and Immingham
Immingham
Immingham is a town in North East Lincolnshire, located on the south bank of the Humber Estuary...
.
In 2001 Bayford gained the UK rights to the Gulf brand, in a deal with Gulf Oil
Gulf Oil
Gulf Oil was a major global oil company from the 1900s to the 1980s. The eighth-largest American manufacturing company in 1941 and the ninth-largest in 1979, Gulf Oil was one of the so-called Seven Sisters oil companies...
International, and also launched a new business, (Gulf Lubricants UK Ltd), in association with Gulf, to market and sell lubricants. The company becomes involved with a £47m deal to buy the 400-strong network of Save petrol stations, the largest independent petrol network in the UK. Jonathan Turner became joint Managing Director alongside his role at Bayford. These sites were eventually sold on to independent petrol station operators (many becoming Gulf sites) or in some cases, for redevelopment.
Bayford launched Countrywide Fuel Cards in partnership with BP
BP
BP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"...
in 2003, selling fuel cards through BP branded sites. Bayford also launched InterCity Fuel Cards in partnership with Shell
Royal Dutch Shell
Royal Dutch Shell plc , commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six...
, operating initially as separate businesses.
In March 2004, the Bayford oil business grew again with the opening of a new office in the North East. This took the number of oil businesses to seven. The group was now able to deliver fuel from Lincolnshire right up to Northumberland
Northumberland
Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...
together with North Wales.
In August 2005 Bayford & Co purchases Delta Fuels. Based in Kendal
Kendal
Kendal, anciently known as Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish within the South Lakeland District of Cumbria, England...
on the edge of the Lake District
Lake District
The Lake District, also commonly known as The Lakes or Lakeland, is a mountainous region in North West England. A popular holiday destination, it is famous not only for its lakes and its mountains but also for its associations with the early 19th century poetry and writings of William Wordsworth...
, to complemented the company’s existing operations. As well as taking over John Ellis Fuels in North Wales. Bayford acquired three new fuel card
Fuel card
A fuel card or fleet card is used as a payment card most commonly for gasoline, diesel and other fuels at gas stations. Fleet cards can also be used to pay for vehicle maintenance and expenses at the discretion of the fleet owner or manager. The use of a fleet card also eliminates the need for...
businesses, Central Fuel Cards, Truckhaven Ltd and Routemate Fuel Cards. This saw Bayford’s fuel card business become the only company to have partnerships with the three biggest fuel brands in the UK, Esso
Esso
Esso is an international trade name for ExxonMobil and its related companies. Pronounced , it is derived from the initials of the pre-1911 Standard Oil, and as such became the focus of much litigation and regulatory restriction in the United States. In 1972, it was largely replaced in the U.S. by...
, Shell and BP, as well as adding the most widely accepted diesel-bunkering card on the market, to its portfolio. By taking over three fuel card businesses and the two fuel distribution companies, as well as an industry-related technology firm (PMD), Bayford earned itself the title of ‘Acquirer of the Year 2006’ at the Business XL Magazine Company of the Year Awards.
Bayford was listed in the Sunday times List of Best Employers for 2006. The Sunday Times said of Bayford, “Having fun at the same time as meeting corporate objectives is the bottom line for the company.” Following a year of record profits and sustained organic growth
Organic growth
In finance, organic growth is the process of businesses expansion due to increasing overall customer base, increased output per customer or representative, new sales, or any combination of the above, as opposed to mergers and acquisitions that are examples of inorganic growth. Typically, the...
, Bayford completed the acquisition of Askham Oil Supplies, one of the UK’s leading Authorised Distributors for Texaco
Texaco
Texaco is the name of an American oil retail brand. Its flagship product is its fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owns the Havoline motor oil brand....
. Bayford’s fuel distribution operations now extend from North Wales
North Wales
North Wales is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales. It is bordered to the south by the counties of Ceredigion and Powys in Mid Wales and to the east by the counties of Shropshire in the West Midlands and Cheshire in North West England...
to the Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
coast, and right up to the Scottish border.