A fourth-generation family business in Stokesley is celebrating its centenary serving the rural community in North Yorkshire.
Rishi joined the celebrations as Armstrong Richardson marked 100 years since it began trading as a limited company.
The MP joined staff and the company’s managing director Nigel Jones at its Millbry Hill store on Levenside, Stokesley – housed in the Union Mill building which the company purchased in 1950s.
The store, and the company’s head office which is also housed in the mill building, has been refurbished to mark the anniversary.
Along with other Millbry Hill branches at Richmond, Whitby, Thirsk and Whitehaven in Cumbria, the store sells a wide range of equestrian, pet and country supplies.
Rishi said he welcomed the company’s investment in its flagship store. “The revamped store, housed in a beautiful historic building, is superb,” he said.
“It is a fitting way to mark the centenary of this family company which has been serving the rural community with distinction for so long.”
Mr Jones, Armstrong Richardson’s group managing director, said: “The staff and myself were grateful for Rishi to take the time to be shown around our store and we were thrilled to hear that his daughters were already customers.”
He said the company’s origins dated back to 1915 when Robert Armstrong, a butcher, and Henry Richardson, an auctioneer, bought a seed and cake merchants and started trading from Stokesley Market Place, in a building which now houses Chapters Deli, and became Armstrong Richardson & Co Ltd in 1925.
Mr Jones added: “My grandfather Ted Jones, came to the area from London in the 1920s, my father Brian, bought the Armstrong Richardson business in 1973. I joined in 1984 and my three daughters – the fourth generation of Jones – are involved today.”
Mr Jones said the business had overcome many challenges during its history, including the Stokesley floods of 1976, the foot-and-mouth crisis of the early 2001, and more recently the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020/21.
Despite that, the business had adapted and continued to grow. It now employs more than 100 people.
