Business has succeeded by changing tack

John Barnett Limited is now 127 years old and has thrived for so long as one of the cornerstones of the Worcester commercial scene, thanks to its readiness to adapt to significant changes in consumer demand and business trends.

Down the years, the firm has been in the hands of four generations of the Barnett family.

It started primarily as a coal merchants, had a period selling wines and spirits, and then became, for decades, a hugely successful corn, seed and agricultural supplies business.

It now specialises in wholesale and retail horse and animal feeds and in pet and garden supplies, all from its HQ and warehouse at Padmore Street and from its four shops in Worcester and Malvern.

The founder of the firm was John Barnett, who in 1873, at just 21 years old, took the courageous step of setting himself up in business as a coal merchant and forage contractor from premises in The Avenue, which leads off The Cross, Worcester.

He was born in 1852, the eldest of four children of John and Suzanna Barnett, who ran the Black Lion public house in Dent Street, Worcester. After leaving school, he worked first for the Midland Railway Company and then for Worcester wine merchants, Josiah Stallard & Sons.

A year after going into business on his own, John Barnett married Mary Ann Langford, a local weaver's daughter, and they were to have 10 children, though, sadly, only half of them survived beyond early childhood.

During the last 20 years of the 19th Century, John Barnett's business expanded rapidly. He moved from his original premises in The Avenue to a larger property in Foregate Street and then to Lowesmoor Wharf, where he set up offices and stores. He also opened shops in New Street, Newport Street and Lowesmoor.

The main focus of the business was as a coal merchants, though John Barnett was a successful forage contractor too, and also sold wines and spirits, no doubt as a result of having been brought up as the child of publicans.

Selling and delivering coal was, however, the most profitable operation in late Victorian times, as coal was obviously vital for powering industry and heating homes, shops, factories and offices. Even so, forage too had its importance, especially on the transport front - as feed and "fuel" for horse power!

The firm had its own railway coal wagons for supplies coming by rail to Shrub Hill and also unloaded coal from canal barges at Lowesmoor. It opened a depot at Bromyard and also bought land at Kempsey for coal and grain arriving at Worcester by river. Transport between the firm's various depots and shops was all by horse and cart.

Wines and spirit sales were gradually dropped, but the family's Black Lion pub was rented out as a source of income. This pub disappeared from the Worcester scene around the middle of the 20th Century.

John Barnett always worked tirelessly to keep his business at the forefront in Worcester, and he became a wealthy man and much-respected local figure. He owned several properties and held a large number of stocks and shares.

He was a regular worshipper at the Sansome Walk Baptist Church and also served on Worcester City Council as a Liberal for three years - from 1892 until 1895 - representing for St Martin's Ward.

The Barnett family home for many years was Mount Vernon in Rainbow Hill Terrace, Worcester. When it was sold by auctioneers Bentley, Hobbs & Mytton in 1919, it boasted "many oil and watercolour paintings and two pianofortes."

Unfortunately, in middle age, John Barnett became dogged by ill-health, and he died on March 13, 1900 at the age of only 48.

Berrow's Worcester Journal, in its long obituary to him, said: "From its small beginnings and by energy and integrity, his business developed into a large and successful enterprise by which his name was so well known."

Fortunately, before his premature death and as a man of foresight, John Barnett had already put in train key measures to ensure his firm's future in the hands of his family.

It became a limited company in 1900 and, a year later, saw the opening of its large new warehouse at Lowesmoor Wharf.

On John Barnett's death, the company passed to his eldest son, Frederick Langford Barnett who, like his father, took over at the helm on his 21st birthday!

His surviving three brothers and sister assumed directorships but Albert and Henry Barnett expressed no interest in the running of the firm and, indeed, both emigrated to Australia.

Tragically, the lives of Frederick's other brother Spencer and sister Fanny were to be all too short. On returning from service in the First World War, Spencer fell victim to the world-wide 'flu epidemic of 1918 and died. Fanny, who had chosen to nurse him herself throughout his illness, also contracted the 'flu and suffered the same sorrowful fate.

This left, Frederick Barnett as sole heir to the business, but under his wing it continued to prosper vigorously.

The imposing "new" Lowesmoor Wharf building was ideally placed, with close access to the canal and Shrub Hill Station, and a widespread coal delivery service was introduced. The firm also sent trainloads of coal to all railway stations in the county at special prices. This enabled customers in outlying areas to get quality brands of coal in preference to the inferior varieties offered by London dealers and the like. "Burn Barnett's Coal" became a popular county-wide slogan.

Around this time, John Barnett Limited also began developing the agricultural side of its business to be on a par with coal distribution. The firm quickly established itself as a leading dealer in all kinds of feeding stuffs, grains, forage, manure and general agricultural supplies. This "corn and seed" trade blossomed across the county and into other parts of the Midlands and even as far afield as South Wales.

However, the Lowesmoor Wharf warehouse was soon overflowing with coal and grain and, in 1912, the company bought the City Mills in nearly Padmore Street. This large warehouse complex , again adjacent to the canal, could hold 300 tons of grain and hay and also had grinders enabling the company to produce its own barley. It was to replace the Lowesmoor Wharf premises.

Frederick Barnett married Maria Mary, daughter of John Davies of Bromyard, and they had three children - daughters Enid and Joan and son, John Frederick (Jack).

Frederick introduced Jack into the business as a young man, and daughter Enid joined the firm during the Second World War to begin her 20-year role as company secretary.

Frederick died in 1952 at the age of 72 and was succeeded by son Jack, who assumed the status of managing director.

Interestingly, for much of the 1950s, the company held the contract to supply hay and straw to the world-famous Bertram Mills Circus.

In the early 1960s, Jack's other sister Joan also joined the company and was mainly based in the Lowesmoor shop.

Jack Barnett had to guide the company through testing times and significant changes. The arrival of gas and electric central heating spelt the death knell of the coal trade, and the company phased out this side of its business in the mid-1950s. The advent of big agricultural suppliers such as Mid Shires Farmers also placed greater pressures on smaller corn and seed firms like Barnetts.

Jack Barnett's response was to open further retail premises in Malvern, Tewkesbury, Droitwich and in The Trinity, Worcester, primarily to sell animal foods, pet supplies and garden fertilisers and equipment. Often on offer too were birds, fish, puppies and kittens. In fact, Barnett's Lowesmoor shop still sells small pets such as hamsters, rabbits, budgerigars and parrots.

In 1972, the City Mills at Padmore Street, were sold to Underwood & Co. Ltd, though the buildings were later demolished. A new HQ, offices and warehouse, again called City Mills, were built by Barnetts immediately alongside Padmore Street and still remain today as the company's main base.

In the 1970s, Jack Barnett retired as managing director and became company chairman, being succeeded as MD by John Brettell, who was joined in 1979 by a new director Bob Stephens, who had moved from another long-established local corn and seed merchants, Golledge & Co., in The Butts.

Enid Barnett died in 1979 and Joan (Mrs Smith) in 1988 and, as Jack Barnett never married, there was no direct Barnett heir to the company when he died in 1986, at the age of 80. At that stage, John Brettell formally took over the company and remained at the helm until his retirement in 1990.

John, who alas died last year, will be remembered by Memory Lane readers as a local historian, especially for the Droitwich area. He compiled several mainly pictorial books featuring the Spa town in times past.

Since 1990, the managing director of John Barnett Limited has been Bob Stephens whose wife May, is company secretary. Mr Stephens is the major shareholder but a family input still remains through other shareholders, Mrs Gillian Edgar and Mrs Jennifer Gilbert, nieces of Jack Barnett, who live in the Worcester area.

The company's business today is focussed on wholesale pet foods and garden supplies from the City Mills in Padmore Street, and on retail sales from the remaining four shops - in Lowesmoor, The Trinity and at 7 St John's and at Richmond Road, Malvern Link.

The firm also specialises in horse feeds which are supplied over a wide area and to several racing stables.