Gainsborough is the ideal location to run a business for a variety of reasons, according to David Townsley.
David moved his Villiers Classics car business to 30 North Street, three years ago, renting the showroom on the ground floor of the 19th century building.
Last year the building was put on the market and David purchased it, retaining the showroom as his workshop, which houses a dozen or so classic vehicles. The cars in stock read like a who’s who of classic manufacturers and include the likes of Jaguar; Porsche; Lotus and Daimler.
David said: “I was running a similar business in south-west London, buying and selling classic cars, similar sized business to this, but the cost of operating it was about three times higher than here and it was proving just too expensive.”
After hearing about the building here in Gainsborough it wasn’t long before David made the decision to move his entire business 170 miles from his Surrey base to West Lindsey, capitalising on the reduced operating costs and the central location.
“It was early 2020 when I moved and everything worked out well from day one. Then the landlord decided he wanted to sell the building so just over a year ago I bought it to ensure security of tenure as the premises and Gainsborough’s location had worked well for us.”
Existing tenants on the site, which included a boxing club, a dance school, and a carpet shop, have since vacated the building, giving David the opportunity to draw up plans for the rest of the site.
“The plan now is to further utilise 30 North Street and offer an attractive, practical, and affordable set of working spaces for local businesspeople,” says David.
“Although the building’s architecture poses some constraints, it conversely offers a range of interesting room configurations. These may well appeal not only to office-based businesses but also to craftspeople and artisans.”
David has been renovating the building over the last three months, improving facilities, and is now marketing the vacant spaces that make up the Villers Business Hub.
“A large volume of the businesses in Gainsborough are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and given the fact a lot of what we’re doing here is geared towards offering the ideal workspace for small businesses, I’m hopeful this new business hub will fulfil the needs of local businesses.
Further information on the Villers Business Hub, can be found here https://www.villiers-hub.co.uk/about-us or you can email David on [email protected]. For further details on Villers Classic Cars visit their website https://www.villiersclassics.com/