75 years on from its creation, Units 2-3 Ford Lane Industrial Estate, continue to sell fasteners of every size and description.
Its conception came about post 2nd World War. Ivor Green, with an entrepreneurial spirit and a background in the Armed Forces, saw an opportunity when the government started selling off surplus supplies, and Ivor Green Exports was born.
That tactic continued into the 70s and 80s when the shipyard industry was slowing down and closing. He joined forces with another fastener entrepreneur in Scotland, A.Winston, and together they bought up tonnes of fasteners. They continued working together, trading back and forth, depending on what their customers needed. At that time it was all BSF, BA and Whitworth stock – the threads required in the British made machinery.
As American investment increased post war, factories were built housing their machines, which all required UNC and UNF threads. So Ivor included stock of these items, whilst increasing his export business of the imperial threads.
After the UK joined Europe, the need and use of Metric and Metric Fine threads escalated, and many players joined the fasteners business. Ivor Green, who had been joined by his son Alan, continued to thrive selling off his vast stocks of Imperial stock word wide.
In the 90s Jon Bazley came to work for Alan, and after several years working together, Jon bought the business, and Alan enjoyed his retirement in France and the UK.
Jon changed the name to Arun Fasteners and ran it solely, later joined by his brother Dave, for over 16 years. Jon had a wealth of knowledge and helped maintain relationships with local companies. He then decided to retire.
In the meantime Chris and Claire White were on the lookout for a business to buy. Chris who had been working as an aftersales manager for Harwoods Land Rover for over 26 years was ready for a change and to be his own boss. Claire trawled the internet looking for business opportunities and initially dismissed a fasteners company, unsure exactly what it meant! Eventually, she forwarded the information to Chris who nearly fell off his chair! The initial meetings happened swiftly and they couldn’t believe the luck that it was just 5 mins from their home in Fontwell. The business sale went smoothly, and although daunted by the learning task before them, they were grateful for the 6-month support from Jon during the handover. They saw huge potential as there was no internet presence and no history of marketing.
After working extremely hard learning the difference between all the 16000 different types of boxes on the 4000 sq foot warehouse shelves, and installing an electronic stock and invoice system, the company is now moving forwards in leaps and bounds. They’ve taken on a new full time employee who is helping hugely re-organising the stock and serving our loyal customers.
They are stocking more types of woodscrews, self drilling screws, stainless, galvanized products and consumables.
Their young son Joseph loves coming in to help, whether it’s crawling around on the floor with a huge magnet collecting dropped stock, or smiling sweetly at customers counting their orders and pocketing good tips! The family dog Lola is often at work demanding customers attention and enjoying the sun. “We are excited about the future of Arun Fasteners, and are grateful to our loyal local customer base, as well as the new companies we are working with in the UK and abroad”.
