Bayford Group is a number of diverse entrepreneurial companies run by people inspired to make a difference
Operating in challenging markets throughout the country, Bayford Group companies have a quirkiness about them that makes them stand out from the competition.
In 1919 a group of soldiers from Leeds were demobbed close to Bayford in Hertfordshire. When they returned to Yorkshire they chose that village name for their new coal merchant’s business. Since then the Bayford Group has been involved in a variety of businesses but the core has always been energy.
Moving into oil distribution in the early 1960’s and then into petrol retailing in 1969, the company began to diversify into property investment and development, opencast coal mining, shipping, electronics, pollution prevention and fuel cards.
The acquisition of Burmah Oil in 1995 took the oil business to a national level and other acquisitions quickly followed. Alongside the property entrepreneur Jack Petchey the group led the acquisition of the Save Group PLC, the UK’s largest independent petrol company out of administration in 2000. The acquisition of the Gulf brand quickly followed and the company was by now supplying fuel across the whole of the UK.
A move into providing fuel cards to businesses across the UK in the early 90’s led to partnerships with all the oil majors alongside Bayford’s own brands. The acquisition of the large fuel bunkering company Routemate consolidated Bayford’s place as one of the largest and earliest pioneers in this sector. This business grew substantially leading to the formation of The Fuel Card Company PLC.
A Family Management Buyout (FAMBO) was completed in 2004 by the current Chief Executive Jonathan Turner and along with Managing Director Elizabeth Slater they continued to expand and develop the group.
In 2013 our shareholders invested in a new fuelcard business, Diesel 24 and in a move that saw a return to the company’s roots, oil distribution company Oilfast. The property portfolio was also added to with an investment in Laudale, a 12,000 acre estate in Scotland.
The group Head Office at Bowcliffe Hall Estate, Bramham, adjacent to the A1 is a prime location for our national business interests. It also provides an exclusive home from home environment for a range of tenants and is an ideal environment for business meetings and functions. In 2013 a year long building and renovation project on the Bowcliffe Estate was begun, which includes the creation of the ‘Blackburn Wing’ an innovative Conference and events space, clad in copper it will appear to be floating in the treeline. The work also includes the creation of four further office spaces from redundant buildings on the Estate.
