ROOTS AND BRANCHES
The Ainscough name is well known in crane hire, but the family tree also extends to new and used metals, tool hire and welfare units. We were keen to find out more.
T
he so-called new towns of the ‘60s are not necessarily famed for their broad
avenues and leafy boulevards, but the outskirts of Skelmersdale – ‘Skem’, as the locals call it – are surprisingly verdant. For all the greenery, Ainscough Hire is of course located on an unremarkable industrial estate, its yard occupying nine acres of it.
The company’s roots actually date back to 1908, with the formation of general trading company, William Ainscough & Sons. Flash forward 89 years, and the Ainscough Ltd scrap metal business was established in 1997 by William’s great grandson, Samuel Horridge Ainscough. His son, Samuel James Ainscough, joined straight from school a year later, subsequently developing the Ainscough Metals and hire businesses. Sam’s niece, Charlotte Marsden, directs the hire side nowadays. She learned the ropes at One Stop Hire, itself linked to the Ainscough dynasty by marriage. The crane connection is via Charlotte’s third great uncle Martin, whose father Gerald set up the business in 1976 and which Martin sold for over £250 million in 2007.
In spite of the Ainscough interests, which are many and varied, Charlotte says that the family remains close. Does a family that stays together trade together, I wondered?
The Ainscough Hire team: Paul Hughes, Charlotte Marsden and Anthony Rotherham.
“I wouldn’t say that we try to keep it in the family, but we do help each other out when we can,” she begins. “Ainscough Crane Hire has just purchased four cabins from me, but family companies One Stop Hire and AIS Vanguard also use us, so we do a lot of business with them too.
“Each business has its own identity and is run separately. I think we all just have the same ethic, though, which is to work hard!”
The hire and metals companies run side-by- side at the yard, sharing resources as needs be. How many people work at this site and how’s it all structured?
“There are over 20 on the site as a whole. Accounts is split between the two companies and Sam runs the metals business, but it’s just me on the hire side, with Anthony and Paul in the yard. Prior to them joining, I’d be out painting and cleaning the cabins, while I still do all the invoicing, orders and customer enquiries. I’ve been there and done that, and I would never ask anyone to do a job that I haven’t already done myself.”
A glimpse inside the Cheshire Polo Club cabin.
The Ainscough Hire niche is mostly storage and welfare units these days, but how has the fleet developed?
“When I started, we were hiring fencing and containers for events, but now we are big into welfare. We have around 400 cabins in the fleet – 350 are on hire on sites across the north-west, and the others are off-hired. Most of our cabins are pre-loved, but we add
never ask anyone to do a job that I haven’t already done myself
‘‘
a bit of TLC and refurbish them. However, our storage containers are brand new and we buy more every year. Meanwhile, we've just turned a toilet block into the poshest thing you’ve ever seen – it’s for Cheshire Polo Club and it’s going to be on TV!”
I’ve been there and done that, and I would
’’
On that, does the company have any other, similarly high profile customers?
“So much of both businesses is word-of mouth, but we’ve hired equipment to the Spice Girls and Elton John tours, and we’ve hired beams for the Manchester Sounds event. We recently supplied smoking shelters to Amazon and we hired road plates
38 Executive Hire News - September 2022
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