(l to r) Richard, Peter and Tom line-up outside the family HQ
Happy 50th Birthday to customer Mid-Warwickshire Cleaning Supplies!
When Peter Cooke set up his Warwick-based business Britain was reeling from industrial unrest while intense and bitter fighting raged on in Northern Ireland.
1972 wasn’t proving Peter’s best year to date either: working as area sales manager for a well-known Midlands supplier of cleaning products, a car accident resulted in him losing his job as he recovered from the injuries sustained.
Yet Peter rallied and soon thrived, moving from the rented garage where he mixed his own detergent to the Lammas Centre on the town’s Budbrooke Industrial Estate, one of three units built by him on land acquired there in 1989.
Says Peter: “Losing my job gave me the impetus to get up and get on doing my own thing. In the early days as a sole trader I had to be a man of many talents as I filled every role at work, from buyer to product development, to sales and delivery!”
As time progressed and the business grew, Peter was able to take on premises, employ staff and eventually build the home the business is still in today.
In 2022, his son-in-law Richard Ward and grandson Tom Ward now run Mid-Warwickshire Cleaning Supplies along with dedicated staff members Mark, Brian and Jon and marketing know-how from Tom’s sister, Sophie.
While retired, Peter takes a keen interest in how the company has moved with the times, deploying technologies such as a website, online sales and social media marketing, yet without losing sight of the tried and tested methods, particularly the best customer service achievable.
Prochem has been a part of his company for over 35 years. “Richard and Tom keep buying from Prochem because both they and our customers love their products,” says Peter, “that’s how it’s always been.”
From the solutions line-up, he singles out cleaning concentrate S775 Extraction Plus, B109 Fibre & Fabric Rinse, and deodoriser B124 Odour Fresh as regular sellers while the Steempro portable extraction cleaner range continues to dominate their Prochem machine sales.
So, how’s business? “It’s kept strong through the pandemic which is encouraging,” Tom relates. “We sell a lot of Steempros to independent cleaners and contractors.
“Contract cleaning takes a significant share of our business as do local restaurants alongside all types of cleaning products and equipment for bars, leisure facilities and schools.
“We also love hearing from local businesses and giving them a helping hand with all their cleaning requirements’.”
Mid-Warwickshire may ‘do as it says on the tin’ but the Wards spread the word far and wide, shipping as far as Manchester.
Here’s to the next half century!