Corby battery business still fully charged after 20 years

Easystart Batteries, in St Mark’s Road, was founded by Trevor Horner, 61, in December 1996 from a storage unit in Rutland.

Despite a skeleton staff and without an office, the business grew until it moved to a permanent warehouse in Corby a few years later.

The business was hit by a fire in 2001 which razed the warehouse and stock to the ground and Trevor was forced to start again from scratch.

He said: “It was very hard when we first started. I didn’t pay myself for six months and then took a very low salary to build a strong financial background for the business.

“The fire was a real blow, but all the hard work paid off and we now have offices in Corby, Northern Ireland and Manchester.”

Trevor trained at Bishop Burton Agricultural College near Hull before moving to Leicestershire to sell agricultural products.

He then became a sales manager at Midland Batteries in Corby, but after 10 years decided to branch out on his own.

Trevor added: “When Midland Batteries closed a year later, I took on some of their former staff members, which helped Easystart’s success.

“It’s not a field that you find many experts in.”

And he has the full support of his work force and family, some of whom have been there for 20 years, with the next generation in line to drive the business forward.

The company delivers batteries all over the country, selling everything from car and agricultural batteries to household essentials, specialising in electric vehicle and leisure supplies.

It also has a retail counter at its warehouse in Corby where people can drop in and pick up what they need over the counter.

The 23-strong team moved into a brand-new state of the art warehouse and office complex earlier last autumn, next door to the old one in St Marks road.

Trevor said: “Moving into the new building has been brilliant. We took an old 1960s building and transformed it into a warehouse, distribution centre, offices and a shop and it’s a great way to mark our 20th anniversary.

“We had the staff from all the depots visit us in the summer and seeing them all together, it was wonderful to see how much the business has grown in 20 years. It was a proud moment.”

For more information about Easystart please visit easystartbatteries.co.uk, email [email protected], call 01536 203030 or visit their offices.