THE WESTOVER GROUP - A BRIEF HISTORY

 1923 – 1945 

• Westover Group Ltd registered on 27^th September 1923 at Somerset House as an incorporated company under the name of “The Westover Garage Ltd”.

• In the same year, the Company applied for and obtained the status of a “public company” with its shares being traded on The Stock Exchange.

• In the latter part of the 1920’s and early 1930’s, the Company developed motor trade sites particularly in Westover Road, Bournemouth and Hinton Road.  The company also developed the “Westover Ice Rink” in Westover Road.

• In the latter part of the 1930’s, the Company expanded into property acquisition and leases at several sites in Bournemouth, involving an old bus station at the Lansdowne and the Majestic Garage.  The Company formed an association with the Nuffield Group and specialised in Morris Motor Cars and commercials (distribution and sales).

• With the outbreak of war in 1939, and associated government control, the Company’s activities were restricted and the majority of it’s motor trade sales and service, together with petrol retailing, were mothballed.  Company workshops were turned over to engineering workshops for production of armaments and aircraft spares for the Ministry of Supply.

• At the approach to the end of the war, the Company resumed sales of second-hand motor cars and commercials, mainly to Government Departments.  Service and body repairs were resumed and training classes were held for soldiers seconded from active duty.

 1946 – Early 1950’s 

• This was a period of restoration for the Westover Ice Rink and of the development of existing motor sites, which were reopened as post-war manufacturers, undertook production of new cars and commercials.

• Founder MD and Chairman, Major FG Sharp, died on 24^th August 1948.

 1951 – 1960 

• This period saw further development of the Ice Rink and promotion of Ice Shows in Bournemouth and other venues.

• It was a significant period of prosperity for motorcar distribution, with consolidation of Westover as a main distributor (wholesaler) of Morris cars and commercials plus other BMC marques including Vanden Plas.  As such, the Company appointed several retailers in the Hampshire and Dorset territory for Morris.

• The future chairman Mr Philip Evans was appointed in April 1957.  At this stage, a future owner, Joseph A M Patrick started to acquire an interest in the Company and purchased some of its shares.

• In the period 1955 to 1960, major refurbishment took place at the Ice Rink and Hinton Road and major developments were taking place in petroleum retailing with BP and Shell.

• In 1959, a major acquisition of Rays Garage at the corner of Castle Lane and Wimborne Road was concluded.

• The group continued to apply unsuccessfully for other franchises.

• In the period 1960 to 1965, the group acquired motor trading sites in Swanage, Old Christchurch Road and Corfe Mullen.

 1962 – 1969 

• In 1962, the Westover Road site was developed into shops for leasing.  The Board also received approval for major development of the Castle Lane site.

• Westover Ice Rink was sold and other properties were acquired including the site at Old Wareham Road to house Commercials.  These were all subsequently sold in 1969.

• In 1969, Patrick Motors acquired the remaining business of Westover Motors including the Redhill site, Swanage, Corfe Mullen, Old Christchurch Road, East Howe and recommenced trading as Morris distributors including MG and Vanden Plas.  Joseph Patrick took over as chairman.

 1970’s 

• In the early 1970’s, the trading site on West Quay Road, Poole was purchased and developed as an additional Morris dealership.

• Throughout the 1970’s, the company rationalised multi Austin Rover dealership with the decline in the pre-eminence of British car manufacturing and closed East Howe, sold Swanage and closed Old Christchurch Road sites.

 1980’s 

• In 1982, the company mothballed the dealership in West Quay Road, Poole.

• The difficult trading conditions in the 1980’s lead to the Patrick family ultimately selling the company in 1984 to a management team headed by Peter Wood, the present chairman.

• The company continued to trade as Austin Rover at Castle Lane and Corfe Mullen but also reoccupied showroom space at West Quay Road, trading as Range Rover dealers in 1985.

 1990’s 

• Under Peter Wood, the Company acquired a Saab and Jeep franchise at Castle Lane in 1988, which traded alongside Austin Rover.

• In 1991, the Company took on the Nissan franchise by acquiring premises in Charminster Road (the present Head Office) and also trading from the Corfe Mullen site.  Also in 1991, the company commenced trading as a Jaguar dealer from the shared showroom with Land Rover / Range Rover at West Quay Road.

• In 1993, all the Castle Lane dealerships including its Rover uniparts store at Edgehill Road were sold to Jessops.

• In 1996, the company took on the Fiat franchise at Charminster and Alfa franchise at Wimborne Road, Winton.  In the same year, the company purchased the Westover Sports Cars business at Pimperne from Nigel Mansell and continued trading with the Ferrari and TVR franchises.

• In 1997, the Company moved the Land Rover Range Rover franchise to a purpose built premises at Barrack Road, Christchurch and expanded the Jaguar franchise to occupy a newly developed showroom at West Quay Road.

 2000 to present day 

• In February 2000, the company acquired the Poole Road premises at Westbourne from the Nissan retail group and transferred the Nissan franchise interest from Corfe Mullen to this site at Westbourne.

• In this year, the Company relinquished the Ferrari franchise at Blandford.  This was matched by the adoption of the Morgan franchise in 2000 and subsequently the Lotus franchise in 2003 at Pimperne.  The Company also housed, temporarily, the newly acquired Lexus franchise at these premises in 2000, which were subsequently rehoused in a purpose built facility at West Quay Road in 2003.

• The Corfe Mullen site, in 2000 / 2001, was temporarily developed to house the Toyota franchise, which was destined to be relocated in purpose-built premises at Wallisdown Road which was purchased in May 2001 and developed for occupation by 2003.

• In June 2002, the Company took on the Skoda franchise sharing the facility with Nissan at Poole Road, Westbourne.  The Skoda franchise was relocated to Corfe Mullen when the Toyota franchise was moved to occupy the newly shared Wallisdown site in mid 2003.

• At approximately the same time, in mid 2003, the Nissan franchise was relocated to an adjoining showroom to Toyota in Wallisdown.

• The showroom at Poole Road was now unoccupied and it was used to accommodate a group used car facility and subsequently the Alfa franchise.  The Fiat franchise was relinquished in 2001 at Charminster and Alfa sales at Westbourne in September 2004.

• Following the decision to sell the Pimperne site in 2004, the Sports Cars franchises of TVR, Lotus and Morgan were rehoused in Poole Road, Westbourne, in early 2004 and traded until the sale of this site in September 2004.  The Sports Cars sales facility was re-housed at West Quay Road sharing the showroom until a purpose built showroom was constructed on this site.

• The service departments of Fiat / Alfa (the franchises for after sales only have been retained) and Sports Cars were rehoused in September 2004 at a new site in Witney Road, Poole.  This is adjacent to the new Group Body shop, which was purchased on the Nuffield Industrial Estate in November 2002. 

• In early 2004, the Company acquired the share capital of the Ottons Land Rover dealership in Salisbury as part of its ongoing expansion strategy.

• Following negotiations with Toyota and the Loders Group, the Company continued to expand its geographical marketing territory with the acquisition of the Toyota franchise in Castle Street, Salisbury in the 2^nd quarter of 2005.

• 2005 also saw a significant development in the dealer management system operated with the introduction of the latest Kerridge system an endorsement of the Group’s desire to stay at the forefront of information technology.

• In January 2006, the Group then acquired the business and assets of the Olympian Automotive Group from the Administrative Receivers following the failure of that business.  The acquisition included the Nissan, Fiat and Renault business for the Bournemouth and Salisbury marketing territories.  The Company assumed the responsibility for approximately 150 staff and business turnover in excess of 40 million.  At present the business is being fully integrated into the Group adopting its trading practises.

• The Company has retained its present Head Office at Charminster Road having leased the ground floor to a wholly owned subsidiary of ICI.