BORN T O RUN
We’re thrilled to be finally writing this Forum! Not only because it’s our 40th Anniversary issue, but also, at long last, we get to use the classic Bruce Springsteen song title. We’ve been trying to tag it to a Forum for years, but it’s never really fitted, however hard we tried.
This time Born to Run is the perfect title because Hire News - and Executive Hire News since we got our hands on it in 1993 - has done just that. Since its December 1971 launch issue, Hire News has reflected the constantly changing dynamics of our industry. As we highlight in our 1970s review article, that first issue immediately recognised, ‘the industry is young, the future is exciting and we look forward to sharing that future with you.’ And so these pioneer publishers did to great effect for the rest of the decade. We also thank them for the loan of their original copies of Hire News from this era. We’re reluctant to hand them back!
The recollections of six leading figures that we invited to review the 1980s confirm that our tool and equipment hire industry continued to grow. ‘It was boom time and lots of exciting things were happening. It was undoubtedly one of our industry’s most prosperous decades.’ Crosshire recalls, ‘our industry got the best ROI in the 1980s than at any time since. This decade gave us the breathing space to set down roots for the future and enjoy ourselves along the way!’
We have characterised the 1990s as a decade of ‘dash for depots.’ Our article recalls how the growth strategies of the leading hirers seemed to dominate our news pages. Utterly consistent HSS opened 20 or more new branches each year throughout that period and the likes of Hewden
Stuart, Vibroplant, Brandon, Ashtead and Jewson all grew quickly by acquisition. The deals just kept on coming.
No-one, however, grew faster than Speedy in the 1990s. Having announced its intent with the purchase of the 41 outlets of Kendrick Hire, at the time, the UK’s largest privately owned tool hirer. At a stroke, Speedy doubled in size, and then set about devouring a big slice of the independent hire market over the next few years.
Looking back, the new Millennium saw a more pro-active EHN, better placed than ever before to anticipate developments and start to influence change. Our role in monitoring key Health & Safety legislation, hosting Hand Arm Vibration conferences in 2005 and 2006 and publishing dedicated Work at Height and HAV supplements are all successes that we are particularly proud of.
Not only has it been a thrill to compile this series of articles that highlight the best of Hire News/EHN throughout its 40 years, we’ve also scoured any number of typeface libraries to re-create the design and layout style of the magazine in each of the decades.
In 2006, we also turned the clock back 34 years in order to move forward. In creating the Executive Hire Show, and delivering it for the first time in 2007, we responded to the views of passionate hirers and innovative suppliers - in the process, confirming our position at the heart of hire. Having taken 40 years to achieve this position, we are not going to give it up lightly. That’s because, tramps like us, baby, we were born to run.
3 65 pages to go
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