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Company
History
Our history
stems from a partnership established in our founding year between
John Harding and Tommy Tucker. The company was called Tucker &
Harding. At the time Tommy was running a couple of vehicles delivering
meat from the wholesalers in Bristol to the butcher's shops in the
Bristol area. The partnership was formed to enable Tommy to retire
and for John to achieve his lifelong ambition of running his own
business.
The early part
of 1964 saw John developing the customer base and expanding the
fleet of vehicles to accommodate the extra work. The first new vehicle
was purchased in 1966, a 16 ton two axle rigid complete with refrigerated
body and fridge unit, to be followed shortly after by a similar
vehicle. The business continued to expand and in 1969 had outgrown
the rented premises in Bath; suitable premises were found and acquired
in Trudoxhill, a small village near Frome. The new site provided
a small yard, workshop and a house at the side where John took up
residence with his family. It was at this point that the partnership
was dissolved; Tommy retired to Torquay and left John to continue
building the business. The business continued to thrive and in 1970
John's eldest son, John Jr, joined the business to be followed later
in the year by Ray. Eventually the three remaining sons Steve, Roger
and David joined, each working in different areas of the business.
The next major
step in the business came in 1974 with the purchase of larger premises;
a purpose built workshop and yard on the trading estate in Frome.
The fleet continued to expand and also moved into the delivery of
insulating building blocks using 4 axle rigid vehicles with hydraulic
cranes, this operation continued until 1994.
In 1976, a
22000 sq. ft. warehouse was purchased and Harding's moved into storage
which proved to be another successful move, so much so that in 1978
John decided that the future in transport would be in the ability
to offer customer's a total package. The long term plan would need
to encompass this. In 1980 the company purchased a further four
and a half acres of land in preparation for further expansion to
ensure we would continue to meet the total package goal, with 1984
seeing
a cold store commissioned and completed, again this proved to be
successful.
In 1985 the
second phase was commissioned, but unfortunately, after a series
of heart attacks, John died, in May 1986.
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Phase
2 Loading Banks - Manor Furlong
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The second
phase was completed late in 1986. There followed a period of approximately
two years where John Jr took over the reins, and the business consolidated
it's position. In 1991 demand for further storage saw the third
phase of the store commence, with completion being achieved in 1992.
This brought the total storage capacity to over three million cubic
feet with nine loading bays.
The fleet of
vehicles now numbered over 50 tractor units and 70 trailers, again
more space was required. Various plots of land were purchased on
the trading estate to accommodate future expansion. This project
on a five-acre site saw a purpose built workshop, vehicle cleaning
and parking facility open in 1995 (shown below).
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Workshops/Distribution
depot - Handlemaker Road
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The company
is now in a strong position to cater for all it's customers needs
and continues to expand.
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