26-39 50th ANNIVERSARY:SPN Master pages 15/09/2009 10:22 Page 31
Celebrating 50 years of Swimming Pool News spnfeature
different reasons. Roy Taylor at Chlor enthusiast John Lomas (ICI, Baquacil). marketing and image are more
Chem was a great chemist, Dennis Gray a Overall however, the guy that gave important, support systems are more
great retail motivator, David Batchelor a me the greatest personal opportunity rigid. However if you work hard and
committed supporter of the UK market was Peter Horne – I sold Dry Acid to work on the right things, I don’t think
from overseas. But for me the guys that Peter and he must have liked me a bit it’s overall any harder.
really helped me settle as a young man in to ask me to join him – thanks Peter.
“leather pants!” were people like The business has moved on it’s Mark Ramsden is Commercial
gentleman Mike Denny (Voxsan), and different – standards have moved on, Director of Complete Pool Controls
Patrick Thorpe: “Volumes may be down but
values are definitely up. We are just scratching
the surface and have everything to play for”
Life was simple when I joined the pool The early 80’s saw the introduction of the
industry almost 40 years ago. Distributors, portable spa. I remember the great Peter
such as Certikin, had small ranges and Geekie (Distributor Extraordinaire) saying: ‘If
even smaller customer bases. Discount you sell 30 of those a year Patrick, I will eat
structures were uncomplicated and my hat’. Little did he know then that today
discount levels were relatively low. individual retailers (never mind distributors)
Marketing was non-existent and, indeed, comfortably sell this number each year.
so were sales in the middle of winter! Throughout the 70s and 80s companies
No one had heard of a Jacuzzi, a one- like Certikin and Plastica continued to
piece pool, heat pumps, safety cover, solar develop their own UK produced products. make profits to justify their existence. A
heating or even, to a large extent, In fact, the whole of Europe ‘exploded’ to balanced market place is important, but how
automatic pool cleaners. become virtually self sufficient in pool it is achieved is one of the great challenges
In my mind, the glorious summer of supplies. Manufacturing became the norm that all suppliers now face.
1976 stands out as a defining moment for in Europe with companies such as Astral Today we have a much more
the industry. Thanks largely to the and Speck making headway with their complicated industry with vast product
scorching summer, the majority of sales back to the USA. ranges, complicated discount structures
businesses doubled in size. From the pool building perspective, liner and, of course, internet sales. In addition,
From a distribution point of view, the pools took hold in the late 70’s and sales we have bar coding, order tracking, Health
increased level of activity provided a firm accelerated throughout the 80’s, at one & Safety, Employment Legislation, Quality
base for investment. The consequence of stage constituting 70% of the enlarged Standards and BS&EN Standards. When I
which was better stocks, better distribution market place. Liner pools made the reality joined Certikin, we simply sold things –
and progressively broader product ranges. of owning your own pool affordable to a those were the days.
One has to remember that the vast wider range of the public. However, from The good news is the market in the UK
majority of products were imported from 2000, sales of traditional concrete pools has moved significantly towards top end
America at the time, so lead times were a have in fact roughly equalled liner sales. pools particularly indoor. Volumes may be
major issue. This, coupled with small When talking about the pool industry in down but values are definitely up. We
volumes caused havoc in the supply chain. the Noughties one cannot fail to mention confidently predict this trend to continue
Following the excellent summer of 1976, the internet and this has proved a challenge in future years. Once the recession eases
Calorex launched the first Heat Pumps and to us all. Regardless of how you view it, and the liner market re-establishes itself, I
a whole new sub-industry was formed. This good or bad, the internet is not going to go firmly believe the sky will be the limit.
product range was probably the first away, so we must find a way of co-existing The UK has the least number of pools
genuine innovation for the pool industry with this new sales channel. It is vital to have per person in the top 10 markets
since it began in the UK. To see the full excellent display centres and for the industry worldwide – we are only just scratching the
spectrum of what is available today, would to show off its wares, after all everyone surface and have everything to play for.
have been mind blowing to the ‘poolies’ of prefers to see and touch the products
50 years ago. before they buy. These centres need to Patrick Thorpe is chairman of Certikin
Richard Way: ”I am optimistic about the future” (particularly chemicals) was extensive.
John Asher has done so much personally
It’s great to look back at old price lists and The Genie condensing boilers have also for the industry. And, of course, no list
compare them with today’s and you realise been revolutionary. The development of would be complete without mentioning
just how much more sophisticated the chemicals has completely transformed Peter Geekie who was probably
products have become. pool ownership, both for the commercial responsible for creating more jobs in the
During the last 25 years that I have been and domestic owner. In the last 25 years pool industry than anyone else. Certikin
in the pool industry, the one thing that chemicals have gone from occupying one Engineer Brian Mitchell and the
really stands out is the development and page of the Certikin Price List to 35 Warehouse Manager in the Peter Geekie
growth of heat pumps which has been pages today. days, Henry Broadhurst, also stand out
phenomenal. As the exclusive suppliers of The people that have stood out for me for me.
the Calorex heat pumps to the pool trade as being ambassadors in the industry are I am optimistic about the future.
Certikin has been a trailblazer. Howard Gosling and John Turk. The latter
In fact the heating of swimming pools was Certikin’s South West Sales Executive Richard Way is Sales Director at
has come a long way in a very short time. and whose knowledge of pools Certikin
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